Some Rhyme or Reason
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: There are things we know about people, and things we don't know. Kaito's not there to answer Hakuba's questions so the detective sets out to find the answers with a little help from a few friends and from someone lost long ago.
1. Below the Surface

Still no betareader, sorry. I tried to catch my mistakes. (just went over it all again and I think I got at least the terrible ones)

DISCLAIMER: I do now own any characters used in this story (so far) they are all the property of Gosho Aoyama and affiliates.

Kaito WILL be in this story! I didn't know how to get my message across but I made it sound like he wouldn't. HE WILL  
KAITO IS A BIG PART OF THE STORY BUT YOU WILL ONLY FIND OUT WHAT I MEANT IN THE LATER CHAPTERS!

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_**Chapter 1: Below the Surface**_

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_"The expensive delicate ship that must have seen_  
_Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,_  
_Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on."_  
_- Wystan Hugh Auden_

Snake was back.

Kaito had gone after a large gem again, another diamond whose white glimmer and rumors out shown the majority of its kind.

Snake could be dealt with.

Hakuba was another problem altogether.

Kaito knew that the blond detective had not met Snake yet; wasn't even aware of the man's existence. Any mention of him had been stricken from police records for reasons Kaito couldn't understand. Snake must have inside help.

_Why couldn't he have stayed out of town for this one_? Kaito wondered desperately.

He wanted to run faster. He could have run faster. Out pacing Snake was an easy endeavor and didn't take much effort. If Hakuba hadn't been chasing him too, if Kaito wasn't worried about the two of them coming together and that damn gun that Snake always had, he would have been gone in a heartbeat.

The diamond was already in Kaito's possession. It had been almost too easy to get it, for him at least. Snake and the others had been watching the fake that had been put out by the gem's owner beforehand and Kaito simply had to tail the man to find where he'd stashed the real gem.

With the diamond in hand, Kaito made an appearance, showing the crowd of police officers and hidden gunmen that he'd acquired his target before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. It wasn't good to take time to taunt the police when Snake was there.

It both pleased him and scared him that Hakuba was the faster of the two. Snake was behind him and the detective didn't know about the danger he was in, but that also made him an easy target if the gunman tried to shoot Kaito and Hakuba was in the way.

There was a bridge nearby. It would be crowded so Snake couldn't do anything there. If Kaito could make it to the bridge without anyone getting hurt, he could activate the glider without being followed.

Now he just had to get there.

…

Hakuba had a hard time keeping up with the Kid. He'd already guessed that the other was faster than him but, with how close he was, it seemed like something about the Kid was wrong tonight.

_He should be faster than this_, Hakuba thought to himself. _What's going on?_

They were almost to Bay Bridge now.

Hakuba had been hearing footsteps behind him for some time now and he had thought they'd been police officers who'd seen the Kid escape. There was no conversation though and, if Nakamori-keibu _was_ there, Hakuba was sure he would have heard him yelling.

Something was wrong tonight and it was one of the reasons Hakuba hadn't given up the chase, even though he was out-maneuvered and slower than the Kid this time.

It didn't take long before Hakuba figured out the Kid's plan. The bridge was in close proximity to them now and the thief could get away scot-free since they didn't have any boats prepared. It still puzzled the detective why the Kid went so far out of his way before trying to escape.

The detective tried to speed up when they entered the walkway of the bridge. Pedestrians that were out late that night parted in front of the Kid so Hakuba was able to gain some ground as they moved, already out of his way.

Hakuba huffed out a breath when someone shoved him hard from the side. It wasn't any of the people who had been following him as he chased after Kid, it was some punk of the street who just wanted to haggle whoever passed by.

The metal frame around the bridge stopped him from immediately plummeting into the water, hitting hard against his ribcage and leaving enough time for him to grab onto the railing before the majority of his body went over the side.

"Hakuba-kun!" He heard someone yell. The detective was still winded and it took all his concentration just to keep his hold.

Somewhere above him he heard the sounds of a fight, distant and muffled because of the hard wind blowing under the bridge. He squinted his eyes and saw something white in front of him.

"Give me your hand!"

Instinctively the detective raised his free arm and latched on. The person on the other end tried to help him up but it was clear that they didn't have the ability to. Hakuba raised the hand he was holding onto the framework with, to try and reach higher, but his full weight put too much a burden on his rescuer and he had to grab onto the same spot or risk both of them falling into the harbor hundreds of feet below.

Hakuba heard a small cry and felt something wet hit him in the face. He used his shoulder to wipe it off and saw a scarlet smear on his coat.

"I'm going to need your other hand."

Hakuba watched as the large white diamond went over the bridge and another white hand was place in front of him.

"Kid-san, why'd you just throw away the gem?" The detective looked up for the first time to meet Kid's eyes.

"Just grab my hand!" The desperation in the other person's voice was palpable. Hakuba quickly fastened his arm around the other's hand and heard as Kid tried to lift his full weight back onto the bridge.

With the help of his legs, Kid successfully did it, scraping the detective's chest yet again across the iron bar. Hakuba was swung around as Kid used his weight as more of a pulley than relaying on brute force alone. Hakuba was going to ask the other how he'd managed to lift him when he saw the scarlet just to the left of the Kid's neck.

"You're hurt."

"I'm fine." Kid tried to re-adjust the petal that had come unclasped from his coat when he'd been hit. "Get out of here detective!"

"What's going on?"

Kid was about to yell something back at him when he was hit in the shoulder by another bullet. Hakuba watched as Kid did what he must have done a few minutes ago, and toppled over the siding of the bridge.

"Kid!"

Hakuba ran over and saw that the thief had managed to grab onto the lattice work as well, though he was a good seven-feet down and Hakuba wouldn't be able to help him.

"Hakuba-san you have to get out of here!" Kid tried to yell to him, his voice mostly lost in the wind.

"I can't just let you fall!"

The cape still hung half off Kid's coat so the glider would be useless. The gusts had it flapping around the thief like he was in a hurricane. It may be Kid who had escaped from a hundred impossible situations hanging down there but damn it, he was still human. Falling from this height and surviving was unthinkable.

Hakuba heard running footsteps coming towards him and looked over his shoulder to see a bunch of men in beige suits coming towards him. When he looked back down he saw the thief was smiling.

"Don't worry Hakuba-san," Kid looked up at him and flashed a confident grin. "Just get out of here."

Hakuba watched as Kid simply let go of the railing. He would have thought the thief suddenly suicidal if he hadn't of caught the serious look on his face before he fell.

The detective should have left then, should have listened to what Kid had told him, since the men slowly closing in on him were so dangerous Kid thought jumping off the bridge was safer than staying around to greet them. The detective should have done a lot of things. But he didn't. Hakuba stood there to watch because he _needed_ to know Kid would be alright. Needed some solid proof that he hadn't just lead another person to their death, thief or not.

A few feet before hitting the water, Kid tried to deploy the glider. The one side didn't catch since the cape wasn't attached any longer, but the wind draft the other half caught was good enough that the g-force wouldn't kill him. Hakuba saw him plunge into the water, somersaulting yet still managing to land feet first. The glider must have broken on impact since the detective could see pieces of it floating in the water.

As one of the men reached his position, Hakuba saw a gun riding in the crook of his arm. The detective shot off, trying to make it seem more like he was running to see if he could find the Kid rather than running away from them. In actuality, Hakuba wasn't sure which he was doing.

It was a good fifteen minutes or more before he made it to the lake bed. It was as he suspected though, and the thief was nowhere in sight. _If he'd been injured in the fall badly enough he wouldn't have gotten far_. A voice in the back of Hakuba's mind reminded him that Kid was running around with at least two bullet wounds as well.

Another twenty minutes showed no results. Either Kid was well enough that he got away before Hakuba had arrived or he'd hurt himself too severely and was somewhere in the water still.

There was nothing the detective could do in either case so he walked off in the direction of the nearest street, keeping an eye out for the men in the light colored coats.

…

Hakuba couldn't say that he wasn't concerned when Kuroba didn't come to school the next day. He wasn't overly worried but it wasn't as if his classmate's absence had no effect on him. Or the rest of the class for that matter.

The teacher even seemed less happy then usual when she wasn't interrupted by his antics.

Aoko was the worst though. She spent the whole day looking out the window nervously without taking notes. The teacher didn't call on her but that didn't mean that zoning out through a day of class wouldn't get back at her.

No, it didn't concern Hakuba much when Kuroba didn't come to school that day.

It started to concern him when he heard nothing of the magician a good three days later.

"Aoko-kun, you don't happen to know what's keeping Kuroba-kun from school do you?"

Aoko looked up from her desk where she'd been milling around with some stray sheets of fringe from her notebook. She shook her head.

"I went over to Kaito's house but his mom said he was too sick to come out. I'm really starting to worry about him."

He couldn't have gotten sick from falling into the river. The waters were cool but it was summer. If his mother was lying for Kuroba's sake, then something was going on with her as well.

Hakuba shook his head and thanked Aoko for the information.

When the school bell rang for the day, the detective took his schoolbag and made his way over to Kuroba's house. If he wanted answers, he was going to get them.

The walk was short and Hakuba was surprised at how close to the school the magician lived. Hakuba had to take a bus to get there, but then, he'd picked the school purposely after narrowing down the area where he thought Kaitou Kid was most active in. He been closer then he thought at the time.

Not that the magician would give him any ground. Though Kaito was a perfect suspect, Hakuba couldn't get anyone to believe him without proof. The detective hoped no one would be able to beat him to it, since no one else considered that the infamous thief was really a high school student.

Hakuba hadn't figured that part out yet but he was sure that Kuroba was the one carrying out Kid's acts now. There could be a million other scenarios for how he'd picked up the job. In Hakuba's own opinion, it seemed natural for the magician to play with other people like that, it was what magicians did.

And yet – he'd gone out of his way to save Hakuba at the cost of losing, not only the gem, but his own life.

That didn't suit the Kuroba in his mind. Kid, though playful in manner, wasn't as careless as he appeared but Hakuba hadn't seen anything of that nature from him either.

His shook his head at his own puzzlement. If Kuroba was home, he would get his answers.

The house that the detective came to was more normal looking then he would have thought. There were a row of bushes underneath the first story windows, placed amongst dark bricks and white shudders. A feminine touch play in along the curtains and a rusted, black railing lead up three steps to the front door, a white screen in front of a larger wooden one with diamond shaped window.

Ironic, Hakuba thought to himself. Everything looked so normal for someone who was definably not.

He ran the bell and waited as someone who looked too young to be Kuroba's mother came to the door. Hakuba's detective instincts took over first and he noticed how tired she looked. Her clothes were shabbier than they could have been and she wore an apron with no stains to prove how tidy she normally kept everything up.

"Kuroba-kun's not home is he?" Hakuba asked with more distress than he let his voice get across.

"He's sick. I'm sorry but you'll have to come back later."

Hakuba knew the lie when he heard it. The woman's voice didn't leave any doubt in her sentence but her appearance did. Though tired, she came across with strong conviction and hidden strength.

_You're as good at hiding things from me as your son is. _Hakuba leaned against the wall so that he didn't have to look at her and closed his eyes.

"Kuroba-kun hasn't been home since that night has he? It doesn't look like you've gotten any word from him."

All Hakuba needed was her silence. He didn't notice how much he'd been hoping that he was wrong. If Kuroba hadn't even come back home, that meant he hadn't gotten out of the river that night.

"Damn it" Hakuba cursed, aware that Kuroba's mother could hear him. "I'm going to find him if it's the last thing I do."

The detective walked away, feeling dirty. Why'd he leave the river when Kuroba – Kid, it was easier to think that way – when Kid could have needed his help. It was Hakuba's fault that he'd had to come back; that the thief's plans of escape had been wiped away.

But it wasn't all his fault.

Hakuba remembered the men in the suits. They were no business men and they were definitely the ones who had shot the Kid.

The detective knew where he had to go next.

The bus ride to the police station didn't take long. It was still afternoon so Nakamori was in his office on the second floor, doing whatever the man did when Kid didn't broadcast any upcoming heists.

"Damn it to Hell! Takanuma-san I need you to get off of my back!" There was a loud crash as Nakamori hung up the phone unnecessarily hard. "Damn it!"

"What's the matter?" Hakuba couldn't help but ask.

"Oh Hakuba-kun. It's nothing. The guy who had that diamond won't stop calling and asked if we've found it yet. I can't send my whole damn team out to look in the river for a rock! It's not possible!"

"I'm sorry I let it happen."

"Humpht. It wasn't your fault." Nakamori turned away to shuffle some papers. He stopped with a halfhearted sigh. "I've never had to deal with this before. Kid's always given the gems back."

"I know." Hakuba walked over to him and placed both hands firmly on his desk. "About the Kaitou Kid. Do you have any files on someone who may be after him?"

"There are a lot of people after the Kid" Nakamori huffed, "I can't keep track of all of them."

"No, this wouldn't be one man, it would be a group, armed and after his life, not his capture."

The Inspector's eyes narrowed and he looked darkly back at Hakuba before answering. "One case. There was a case a while back where with two gunmen involved. One was after Kid, according to a witness, the other played decoy and we were stupid enough to follow him." Hakuba watched as Nakamori clenched his fist. "The decoy opened fire on us. We're not sure what happened, but were positive that the Kid got shot that day and we found traces of blood at the scene. The two men who orchestrated the incident got away."

"But they were definitely after the Kid." Nakamori looked up at Hakuba and shook his head.

"We couldn't follow up on anything because there weren't any leads. Everything was dry and the witnesses who saw the man refused to give testimony."

"Why?" Hakuba asked, confused. If the main gunman had been after Kid and there were witness, why remain quiet?

"We got one of them to answer us at a point, but it only made the situation more confusing."

"What did they say?"

"It was an older man. He told the questioning officer that _the Kid_ had told them not to say anything about the gunman, or what he looked like. Why they would listen to a damn _thief_," Nakamori spit out the word, "and not the police, I don't know. They must have been crazy."

"So the Kid had told them not to give any information to the police." Hakuba raised one of his hands off the desk and placed it in his pocket. "Maybe it was to protect them."

"I thought of that too." Nakamori sighed again and crimpled one of his papers when he took it in his hands with tense fingers. "That's why we dropped the questioning. Without any leads on the attackers, we wouldn't be able to protect all of them."

"Has the Kid always been like that? Protective?"

"Always." Nakamori looked to the side, towards his window that was too dirty with years of cigarette smoke to see clearly out of. "One of the only things I give the guy, he doesn't like when people get hurt."

"I never realized that." Hakuba shook his head.

"It's not like the Kid publicizes his humanity." Nakamori crossed his arms as he thought about what he'd just said. "In fact, he does the opposite. If anything, the public knows more of Kid's bad side than those of us chasing him. It's strange. You'd think he'd want the fans."

"Humanity can be used against you. Reckless abandonment cannot."

Nakamori huffed again before going back to his paperwork.

"Is that all you wanted Hakuba-kun? What is it about these people after the Kid that caught your attention?"

"I think they may have finally gotten him."

Hakuba turned away without seeing the Inspector's hard look. He couldn't face it.


	2. Jumping Off Bridges

_**Chapter 2: Jumping off Bridges**_

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_..._

_Why are all these dolls falling out of the sky?_  
_Was there a father?_  
_Or have the planets cut holes in their nets_  
_and let our childhood out,_  
_or are we the dolls themselves,_  
_born but never fed?_  
_- Anne Sexton_

The school was the first to act within a week of Kuroba's absence. His mother made the excuse that he was out of the country, visiting relatives that – apparently – the boy really had that were living in the states.

Aoko didn't buy it and Hakuba knew better from the start. Keeping his worry and anger from his female classmate was trying but if Hakuba was one thing, it was good at seeming indifferent.

In the time he wasn't dodging Aoko's questions, he was searching.

If Kuroba was dead, something Hakuba still doubted even if he hadn't shown up in some time now and didn't seem the type to make others worry, something was going to show up. A body at the least.

The other thing he was searching for was the men who'd been chasing them that day. With little to go on and no contacts in the division one, it was difficult to make any progress.

If he had a name to work with, an appearance, anything, it might have been possible, but Hakuba hadn't been focusing on any of that when the men had run up to him. The beige coats he'd noticed, but that wasn't a lead, it was less than garbage. There were a lot of people out there who wore beige coats and clothing was the easiest thing to change.

It was almost the end of the second week when Hakuba got anything substantial to work with.

There was a Kaitou Kid heist announcement in the paper.

This one was very unlike any of the notices that Hakuba had seen from the Kid before. This one held no riddles, no taunting, and unlike all his previous ones, held no caricature. The signature was definitely Kid's but that could be easily forged.

It was something though. The note simply read '_I will come for the Millennium Star that was lost beneath the waves.' _The report from that night had gone out and it was now basic knowledge that the stone had been lost. If they wanted, anyone could have written the notice.

If Hakuba weren't clinging to the hope that Kuroba was playing some sick trick on all of them, the detective wouldn't have paid the announcement any mind.

So Hakuba went out that night and sat on the edge of the river with a few determined officers. Nakamori was there, something the blond knew the man wouldn't have done for a fake notice.

"Hakuba-kun," the Inspector walked up behind him and blew a puff of smoke off to the side. It was rare for him to smoke when he was on a case but they were outdoors and there was nothing interesting to pass the time. "What did you mean the other day?"

"Nothing." Hakuba shook his head. "Its just that – I hope it was nothing."

Nakamori grumbled when the detective didn't say anything more and his retreating footsteps were noisy with his anger.

The choppy waters caught the blond's attention for a while. There was little wind but the waves still splashed with vengeance against the bank. That night the wind had been blowing almost three times as hard. The water hadn't looked so fierce then. Now Hakuba drew in a surprised breath at how he had thought that someone injured could have made it out.

And he'd been shot twice.

Unconsciously Hakuba grabbed his wrist with his hand. It wasn't like it was his fault that the magician had been hurt. He may have slowed him down but it was the Kid's own responsibility for his actions. At least, that's what the detective told himself.

The flash of Kid's serious face as he fell surfaced in his mind. The Kid had known he might not make it, which was why he'd dropped that damn grin he always had on his face. If there was one thing Kuroba could never fight, it was the fact that he and Kid shared the same mischievous smile.

The notice in the paper didn't specify a time so Hakuba had no choice but to sit there all night. Nakamori didn't seem inclined to leave anytime soon either, feeling the unease from the detective and making it his own.

"Hakuba-kun," Nakamori went back up to the teen hours later, on the breast of dawn. Hakuba shook his head, memorized by the flailing water and his own feelings.

"What is it?" He asked with too much emotion clogging his voice.

"Why are you so wound up? I haven't been able to get Aoko to calm down at home and then when I get this Kid notice, you start acting like – like someone died."

Hakuba shook his head again. "It's nothing. Kuroba-kun's visiting relatives and its made class rather dreary. Like him or not, he does lighten up a room." Hakuba paused, "When he returns things will get back to normal."

"I hope so. I don't think I can take much more bipolar mood swings between the two of you." Nakamori sat down beside Hakuba. "Is that really what's bothering you? I've heard around the office that's you've been looking into some isolated cases."

"It's just an interest. I'm sorry if it's caused you any problems."

Nakamori shook his head. "You think I can't recognize when someone's lying to me?"

Hakuba looked up, now with almost no emotion. It took him a second to wonder if he really was becoming bipolar. "Do you want me to answer that honestly?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Damn it, Hakuba-kun I'm not an idiot." The Inspector narrowed his eyes but Hakuba paid his anger no mind.

"You can't see through Kuroba-kun very well."

"You'd be surprised."

It took a few minutes for the detective to comprehend what Nakamori had said. The Inspector took in a few more drags of his cigarette. "It's not that hard to understand that boy. I've known him for years though, practically raised him with my own daughter, so I can see through him more than you probably could. That boy really hurts sometimes."

"Hurts? What reason could he have to hurt?" There was brightness back in the detective's eyes but it was still overlaid with self resentment and confusion.

"There are a lot of reasons. One, and the most prominent one, is the loss of his father. If Kaito-kun wasn't so old, he could have gotten over it. Aoko did when her mother passed because she was too young for the grief to set in. Kaito-kun – he was at the worst age you can be. He was too young to know his father well as he grew up and too old to have the sorrow easily forgotten under new memories."

"How did his father die?" Hakuba asked with something akin to empathy. He'd grown up without his father as well, though his hadn't died.

Nakamori shrugged. "He died in an accident, an explosion on stage. There was an investigation because the fire shouldn't have started on its own. No accelerants were found and there wasn't anyone who'd held a grudge against Toichi so the case was dropped." Hakuba watched as the Inspector balled up his fists.

"You don't think it was an accident." Hakuba didn't ask it as a question.

"No." Nakamori laid a hand the grass and watched it with unusual intensity. "I never thought it was. Toichi wasn't that reckless. He has a son, he wouldn't use something dangerous in his stunts unless he was sure he could live through them."

"Does Kuroba-kun know? That you thought it was done purposely?"

"I never told him." Nakamori gripped the grass, "But I can't say I've keep my thoughts from him. Recently, I've been starting to think he knows. For some reason, I think he may know more about it then even I do."

"How is that?"

"I don't know" Nakamori shrugged. "I just have this feeling. I can't say it's much more than that."

Hakuba thought to himself for a while. It wasn't much to him if he would lose his father. The detective would grieve, yes that was inevitable, but it wouldn't be hard to get over. There was something different in Kuroba's case.

"You said his father did stunts," the blond closed his eyes, "What did he do for a living?" Hakuba's brain answered before the Inspector could. "He was a magician too, wasn't he?"

"One of the best. I'm surprised you didn't know that already."

"The dead don't interest me, unless it was recent, and I've never been into magic before. I can't say the conversation's ever come up between us either." He should have looked into the magician's past, it should have been one of the first things he did, but Kid had always kept Hakuba's mind focused on other things.

"Kaito-kun's going to follow his father's footsteps." Nakamori smiled as he thought back on the past. "He wouldn't let go of magic even after his father's death, if anything he would cling to it. Hopefully the boy doesn't get in over his head like his dad."

Hakuba didn't argue with it. He was already contemplating everything that the Inspector had just told him and filing it away, calculating facts and clues about Kuroba's behavior and that of his father. Adding in the accident filled in some of the blanks. If this Kuroba Toichi had no enemies and yet he was killed vindictively, it was likely that Kaito had indeed followed his father, maybe to the grave.

"Do you know if these men were always chasing the Kid?"

Nakamori shook his head. "There never used to be any violence at heists. Before Kid came back, towards the end when he went missing, there were some incidents but no one was killed. I thought he'd left to make sure no one else was hurt but it's just as dangerous now, maybe even more so, than it was back then."

"And the police have done nothing to stop it?"

"It's not like I haven't tried!" Nakamori ripped some of the grass out when he held it too tightly. "There's nothing we can do! All we know is what Kid looks like and we can't go around guarding a thief!"

"That's understandable."

Hakuba let his mind drift back to the oncoming waves. There was so much he didn't know, even though he claimed to be one of the more prominent people after the Kid. Damn, he even knew who the Kid was; the detective was focusing too much on the present and not enough on the past. It was an armature's mistake.

"Inspector it's the Kid!"

Both of their eyes shot up to look at a point above them on the bridge from where they were sitting on the embankment. A flash of white caught Hakuba's attention and he was up faster than the Inspector, racing to see if it really was the Kid.

It could have been anyone dress in Kid's outfit but Hakuba kept his hopes up. The figure was perched bird-like on the railing, balance above average even as the cape flutter around him. It could be Kuroba.

The walkway was easy to race down now since everyone was home at four in the morning. The figure was only ten yards away and turned their head to the side to face Hakuba when they heard his running footsteps.

With a grin and grace that could only belong to the real Kaitou Kid, the figured turned on the ledge and leapt to the ground.

"Kuroba-kun what do you think you've been doing? Do you know how worried you're mother is?" Hakuba huffed out his breath, aware that the officers had not caught up with them yet and was free to address the Kid however he wished.

"What's with the familiarity? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about."

The voice was wrong. It wasn't Kaito's and it wasn't the playful one he used as Kid. The tones were the same but the underlying voice was different, deeper.

"What – who are you?" Hakuba looked over the white clad figure again. It looked so much like Kuroba that he'd been sure it was him. He was shorter, a dead giveaway to his age if the police cared to look, and though his head was tipped forward at the moment, the detective had been sure he'd seen Kuroba's brown hair.

"I'm the Kaitou Kid. Were you expecting someone else?" The mocking tone was so close to Kaito's – close, but not it. "I can't say that I'm not still working out how to get the gem though. It's hard to find a diamond at the bottom of a river."

"Do you blame me for that?" Hakuba had to keep him talking. The detective needed to know if his eyes were playing tricks on him or if Kaito was playing some stupid game that he'd taken too far.

"For the diamond being in the water?" The person claiming to be the Kid looked up and Hakuba did see the brown hair coming out from the top hat and a blue eye that shown through the dark. "Why would I?"

"What?" Hakuba shook his head. "Because it's partly my fault it wound up there."

"Really? Well I'm sure it wasn't done purposely."

That sealed it. This wasn't Kaito. It may have looked like him but there was someone else under the white top hat now.

"Do you know where Kuroba-kun is then? I'm sure that you must know something given that you're running around in that costume and you sound too much like him not to know what's going on."

The person in white – for Hakuba had no name for him now – turned stiffly to the side and the detective caught hints of uncertainty in his movements. "I don't know what you could possibly mean by that but I must be going now."

"Stop!" Hakuba shouted at him. The man stopped.

"You really don't know what I'm talking about. You're not just acting this way for some ulterior motives that I don't know about, right?"

Kid's grin came back at him. "I _don't_ know what it is that you're talking about but I assure you I'm not the one trying to be confusing. You've won top prize for that."

"And you don't know where Kuroba-kun is."

The man stopped as he got to the edge of the bridge and the police started to draw in. Hakuba could see the uncertainty return.

"If you know please, just tell me if he's alive" Hakuba pleaded with the stranger.

"I can't answer your question because I don't understand it." The man turned back and – Kami he looked just like Kaito – tipped his head to the side. "I –"

In an instant Hakuba heard something that he never though would come from the thief. He _stuttered_. All of the proof that the detective was faced with made his hopes start to diminish. This person had no idea what he was talking about. As young as he was, and pretending to be the thief, he wasn't Kaito. Kaito would never stutter.

"I only know one person with that name," the stranger said in tight words, as if he didn't want to speak them. "I have no reason to think that they would be in any danger. What does that have to do with me?"

"What?" Hakuba stared at him blankly. "It has everything to do with you. Kuroba-kun IS the Kid. I'm not to sure who _you_ are but you're not him."

"The name!" The tone of the stranger's voice was sharp and held something dangerous if he was not obeyed. "What the full name of this person that you're looking for? I know who I am."

"Kuroba Kaito" Hakuba whispered, taken aback by the stranger's sudden hostility. He regretted telling him the moment the words left his lips. This stranger could be one of the bad guys trying to lure Kuroba out.

"Kaito?" The grin was back. "Really?" the stranger laughed quietly.

"What's the name to you?" Hakuba asked, aware that the police were almost upon them and that the stranger – though not the Kid – was still ready to take off on a glider identical to the thief's.

"It means absolutely nothing to me, it's merely interesting."

The stranger took the few steps necessary to get the momentum they needed to jump back onto the railing and out over the open waters. Hakuba felt flashbacks hit him of the night with blood and bullets. They were gone when the stranger's glider opened and took them across the bay without fail.

"Kid get back here!" Nakamori shouted out to the stranger in white. He turned to his officers and ordered them to start pursuit. When all that was taken care of he turned back to Hakuba who tried his best to stay out of the older man's way.

"Why didn't you try to stop him Hakuba-kun!" He demanded.

"It wasn't Kid." The blond bowed his head and tired to walk away but Nakamori caught his shoulder.

"What do you mean? That looked like the Kid to me!"

Hakuba shook his head. "It wasn't though. I talked to him. He had no memory of losing the gem that night so it couldn't be him."

Nakamori drew back for an instant, unsure of how to react. "Damn it, then who the hell was that?"

Hakuba brow furrowed, "I don't know. I didn't ask."

"Not like the bastard would have said anything anyway. We've still got to track him down."

The Inspector stomped off and Hakuba cursed himself for a second time. He was so sure that it was Kuroba that he hadn't even thought to wonder who it else it could have been.

The detective left the scene more confused then he had been to begin with. Whoever had just announced themselves as the Kid had to have known Kuroba to copy him so well, and yet it had seemed as if they were telling the truth. Whatever madness was going on didn't seem like it would be ending soon and Hakuba hadn't gotten any answers.

"I should have known better then to get myself involved with the thief to begin with," Hakuba told himself miserably. "I wasn't able to get any answers when I was looking for them before; I have almost no chance of getting them now."

…

Hakuba sat in the study that night, twirling some papers in his fingers that had little hopes of bearing fruit. He's combed through any police records that dealt with men in suits and had come across a few scattered cases that didn't speak much about them.

There was a knock at the study door. Baaya was around somewhere and Hakuba knew he'd been taking up the room for a few days now and she was dying to start cleaning up.

"Not now, I'm busy" Hakuba told the wooden door.

"Forgive me for intruding then."

The detective froze with his hands on the papers when he heard the voice that he'd come to recognize less then ten hours ago. The stranger in white walked in and shut the door with all the silence of a flawless burglar.

"What are you doing here?" Hakuba asked numbly.

"Well … um, forgive me but I don't know your name."

"Hakuba Saguru," He said again with as little emotion.

"Hakuba-san then. There were a few things that you said to me that didn't add up. I wanted to know if you were the one that was trying to confound me or if your questions were authentic."

"It doesn't matter. You don't have the answers I want."

"Yes but," the figure stepped closer and all the detective could see was Kuroba in his movements. "I would like some answers from you then."

"Like what?" It was an unusual request and one he didn't have to listen to but the odd similarities were too large to ignore and, being in the man's presence, would give anyway facts about him even if he wished to hide them.

"That name you gave me earlier, would you happen to know any of his relations?"

"Kuroba-kun? Yes," Hakuba's voice lost some of its tightness to fatigue, "but I'm not going to give them to someone like you so freely."

"I'm afraid it's rather imperative that you do. There's something very wrong going on and if you let things be as they are... well. I'm guessing you haven't seen this person for at least a week now, am I right?"

"It's been about two, why would you care?"

The stranger removed Kid's monocle from his face and stared at Hakuba, eyes gleaming with intent and undirected confusion. The eyes were blue, as Hakuba had thought, and his hair was in the same messed up fashion that Kuroba kept his.

He was sure looking at his classmate.


	3. One Lost, Another Found

When the new Magic Kaito (anime) came out they gave Kaito's mother a name (Chikage)  
apparently meaning 'blood shadow' (kinda creepy) so I use that name when necessary  
if anyone was curious where it came from.

* * *

_**Chapter 3: One Lost, Another Found**_

* * *

_**...**_

_**...**_

_"It's this crazy weather we've been having:_  
_Falling forward one minute, lying down the next_  
_Among the loose grasses and soft, white, nameless flowers."_  
_- John Ashbury_

Hakuba couldn't hold back the anger that came upon him.

"How could you worry everyone like that? How could you pretend that you didn't know who I was?" The detective got out of his seat and grabbed the other teen by the front of the coat and shoved him into the wall. The magician did nothing in response. "Do you have any idea how much you've worried everyone?"

"No," the word was whispered quietly in a voice that still wasn't Kaito's, even though he was facing him. The blue eyes moved to level Hakuba with an uncompromising stare. "As I told you before, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Hakuba took off the top hat, just to be sure. The magician's spiky hair shoved its way back into its normal arrangement without the hat to hold it down.

"Stop lying to me! I know you're Kuroba-kun!"

"I never said I wasn't." Hakuba watched Kaito make a pained face before continuing without his smile. "It's the first name that's not familiar to me."

"What do you mean?" The detective slowly started to release Kuroba's coat but he still kept a hold of it, afraid that the thief would run off at any moment.

"Kaito is not a name I have ever been called. I really don't know who you are."

"You're – how is that possible? I _know_ who you are!"

"I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'm just stating the fact that it's not a name I've ever used and that something has happened."

"What's your name then?" Hakuba asked with exacerbation.

"I am indeed a Kuroba but my name is Toichi." The boy who wasn't quite Kaito bowed his head slightly, "Nice to meet you."

"Toichi?" Hakuba shook his head. "Nakamori-keibu just said that Toichi… was killed. How is that possible?"

"I'm unsure. Because of that I've come to you. If my presence is making other unhappy, or if I don't belong here, I would like to know for myself."

"Maybe it's some type of memory loss." Hakuba put his hands on Kaito's head and brushed through the short but thick strands of hair. He saw the other wince more then once. "There could be brain damage as well."

"Kaito – that would be me then." Kuroba brushed through his hair after the detective removed his fingers. "I don't remember my hair being so untamed so you could be right. I would be – what then, a figment of this Kaito's imagination?"

"Or memories. Toichi was his father."

"Right. If that's the case then I have some messed up mind." Kuroba closed his eyes. "It's not possible that I am who I really think I am, is it?"

"That would be – hard to believe. How much _do_ you remember?" Hakuba sat down, ready to have a long conversation but the magician didn't follow him. Kuroba remained standing by the door, unsure of himself for once and clearly tense.

"I don't bite you know."

"I'm aware of that and it's not what's bothering me. If this boy is indeed the real person and I the fake, then I should not be acting so rashly if it's against his will. I may not know what his relationship is to you but I know that I am a thief, and you've claimed him as me so I have to believe he's a thief as well. It's not hard to tell that confiding in a detective is the wrong approach."

"I already know that Kuroba-kun is Kid. There's nothing that you could reveal to me if you're not him." Hakuba rested on hand under his chin and leaned on the couch, feeling as if he were talking to his equal where Kaito usually downplayed his intelligence.

Kuroba smiled. "You're right but I still feel as if I'm intruding."

The magician sat down on a chair almost opposite the detective and swept Kid's cloak behind him in a flourish. The stranger crossed one leg over the other and stared at Hakuba with unhidden curiosity.

"Let's start with your question first and we'll take turns. As for what I remember, I can't say much. I awoke a week ago near the on the boarder of a forest and an embankment. When I was conscious I knew who I was – though you say I'm not actually myself – and I knew my purpose. As for memories before that, I have only a few that could be fabricated if I were to take over as the dominate personality."

"What memories?" Hakuba asked with interest. Though he hadn't found Kaito, exactly, there was no way this new personality could be mistaken for the magician and it was easy to speak with him.

"I remember some men I ran into a few weeks ago." Kuroba closed his eyes. "I won't divulge what I know of them to you. I feel I mustn't. I remember the Inspector behind you fondly and I have memories of this city."

"Could Kuro – could Kaito-kun have fabricated you after his father then? I can't understand why his personality would change and why the injuries wouldn't affect only his memories."

Kuroba shook his head and lidded his eyes. "I'm not sure. I've never heard of any cases like this that didn't involve some traumatic event. As far as I'm aware, I'm not just a separate personality though, since Kaito-kun's regular self hasn't surfaced or I would have gaps in my memories these last few days."

Hakuba stopped all the questions running through his mind to ask only one. "Then how would Kuroba– Kaito-kun come back?"

"I don't know." Kuroba closed his eyes and let out a light sigh. "If this was something permanent, then it's impossible."

The detective let that sink in. This new person – Toichi, even if the name did only come from Kaito's memories – was a nice conversationalist but no substitute for the real magician. There would be a lot of people hurt if Kaito didn't return and Hakuba couldn't say he wouldn't be one of them.

"It's my turn for some questioning." Kuroba interlocked his fingers and placed them on his knee. "I would like to know for myself if I am fabricated or not. Do you know of anywhere that I could learn of myself, not Kaito-kun?"

"His mother would be able to tell."

"Um, then I'll head over there."

"I'll go with you." Hakuba went to get up but a raised hand from Kuroba stopped him.

"I appreciate the offer. I wouldn't despise your company but I still have another question or two before we depart."

"What is it?"

Kuroba opened up his coat and started to unbutton the blue silk shirt underneath before moving it to the side to reveal bandages on the right side of his body.

"I would like to know how I came to get these wounds."

Hakuba drew in closer to himself. "Kaito-kun, or at the time Kid-san, was trying to help me. Someone shot him. Someone in a light brown coat, as far as I could tell." Hakuba narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know who they are would you? I have no leads and nothing to go on."

"I've already told you that I'm not going to interfere with this boy's life, since I've come to realize now that it isn't mine to act upon. Even if I know the answer to some of your questions I cannot answer them."

Kuroba got up and offered Hakuba a hand. "It's not that I don't want to. Do not take my silence for any disregard for you. I hold your opinion very highly."

"But you won't answer my question."

Kuroba grinned. "I'm afraid not."

"Fine then," Hakuba accepted his hand and rose to his feet. "What should I call you then?"

"Under normal circumstances I would prefer you call me Kuroba-kun but the name means something to you that it doesn't to me. If you wouldn't mind using my first name, I'd be much obliged."

"Toichi-san then?"

Kuroba shook his head. "I'm older but the body I'm in now is young. Toichi-kun sounds more natural to me, as we physically look about the same age."

"Hm," Hakuba laughed slightly, "that will take some getting used to but very well."

They both started to exit the room and Hakuba looked Kuroba over with a delicate laugh playing around his features. "You're not going with me like that are you?"

Kuroba looked as he adorned in Kid's costume still. "That would be foolish. Do you happen to mind if I borrow some of your clothes? I have none to change into."

"Go ahead," Hakuba waved his hand down the hall at the door on the left. "I don't care what you borrow."

"Thank you," Kuroba bowed his head and went off on his own. Hakuba couldn't help his eyes blink closed for a few seconds now that he was alone. Toichi's presence that morning had stunned him and the detective hadn't gotten any sleep. It was now eight in the morning and sleep didn't look forthcoming.

The detective leaned against the wall with his eyes shut while he waited. Showing up at Kuroba's house with someone who was, and at the same time wasn't, her son seemed wrong and it would hurt her when she found out so Hakuba would be there to explain things first. He'd figure something out with Kaito's mother on where to go from there since Hakuba knew of no one else who was aware of the teen's secret.

"I'm sorry. If you're tired this can wait."

Hakuba jumped, not expecting this new Kuroba to scare him like the old one would. There was a grin on his face and Hakuba had to pause a second at the clothes he'd picked out.

It wasn't like Hakuba didn't have any normal clothing, he just never wore them. Kuroba had not only gone for the more refined garments, showing off a white button up shirt with a large white collar and some fringe on the sleeves, but had matched it with a black suit and black pants.

"What's the matter?" Kuroba's grin slid away with ease that showed he was used to changing his expressions.

"Nothing. I never expected someone like Ku – Kaito-kun to wear the same thing that I would."

"You're going to have to wait for that day then since I'm not actually your friend."

"Friend?" Hakuba squinted his eyes. Was that really what Kaito was?

"Deal with your indecision when you have someone you're acquainted with to talk about it. My opinion would do you little good."

"You're a lot more solemn then Kaito-kun." Hakuba sighed. "I thought that would be a good thing. I'll have to tell him not to take me so seriously."

"So you're not fond of me?" Kuroba asked with a grin and a look over his shoulder.

"No, you may be too much like me to get along with but it isn't difficult. The strangeness of it all is what's really getting to me."

"I won't argue with you there. You've just told me that I'm the figment of some seventeen-year-olds imagination. I don't have much to look forward to with that information so I may be acting more serious then I normal would."

"I'm surprised that you believed me."

"I didn't at first." Kuroba put a hand through his hair and smiled sadly. "Looking in the mirror was all it took for me to throw my hat in with you. My hair had never been this unsightly but the feel of it is so natural that I cannot deny it is how it should be."

"I'll get Baaya then and she can drive us -"

Kuroba grabbed onto Hakuba shoulder as he passed him and shook his head. "Do you have the keys?"

"They're by the front door."

"Alright then," Kuroba strode off and pocketed the keys where he found them on a hook above the shoe alcove. "Let's go."

"You can drive?" The detective's eyes widened and he hesitated for a moment before following Kuroba out the door.

"Yes but I'm not sure if those are my memories or not. Do you know if Kaito-kun can drive a vehicle?" Kuroba asked as he got into the driver's seat and stared at Hakuba through the big open space the convertible provided.

"It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he could."

Hakuba sat down stiffly next to Kuroba. Even if he wasn't himself at the moment, that didn't mean the teenager was a good driver.

Kuroba caught on and smiled, though it wasn't mocking. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill us." He started the car and put it in reverse to get out of the driveway, leaning an arm over the detective's seat to see behind him better.

The car moved smoothly out under the magician's control. With precision that showed years of being behind the wheel, Kuroba pulled out of the tight black iron fence that lay at the bottom of the driveway. Pulling out easily, Kuroba watched the detective.

"What?" Hakuba asked.

"I don't know where it is I'm going. I assure you that I'm a perfectly good driver but I'm not physic."

"Oh right. You go down this street and take a," Hakuba had to think about it. He'd been to Kaito's house from school but never traveling from his home, "left when you reach the light. I'll direct you from there."

Kuroba nodded before continuing out into the road, faster and with more ease than Baaya had pulled off even having gotten out of the driveway for years now.

"Are you disappointed that I didn't know which way to go?" Kuroba asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it just never occurred to me that you wouldn't. Sorry."

"No apologies necessary. I'm the one hijacking your friend's body after all."

"It's fine." Hakuba looked out the window. "As long as you don't know how to give it back, I can't say I blame you. If you're some unconscious part of Kaito-kun's mind then he won't remember me saying anything to you anyways and, if you are somehow his father, you're even less deserving of my anger."

"I don't remember having a son." Kuroba looked out the windshield and focused perfectly on his driving and thoughts simultaneously. "I only know one thing and, once I have this figured out for myself, I'll get back to what I was planning before I ran into you and you're questions."

"What were you doing?"

"I shouldn't be telling you but it's not like you won't find out." Kuroba looked at the detective when they reached a red light. "What do you think I was doing on the bridge last night? You didn't really expect me to be able to get the diamond out of a bay. I'd have to be a miracle worker."

"Then what were you doing?" Hakuba watched the scenery pass them by, thinking but not really looking at Kuroba. When he did turn to him, the detective kept expecting to hear Kaito's annoying voice.

"What do you _think_ I was doing?" Kuroba kept facing the road and Hakuba let the thought that anyone passing by could clearly see that he was too young to be driving before coming up with an answer.

"You were trying to lure out those men who were chasing Kid-san weren't you?"

"Yes." The quickness of his answer and the tone in which he said it left Hakuba feeling as if he really was talking with someone older and someone who'd seen and heard more than he ever could have.

"What are you planning to do when you find them?"

"I'm unsure now."

Hakuba watched Kuroba as the wind played with his hair. The magician looked so different even though none of his physical features had changed. He smiled a lot less often and the way his body moved was still fluid but with hints of caution to them that Kaito had never shown off.

The detective didn't push any further. Though the magician had been reluctant to answer his questions, there were some that Hakuba knew shouldn't be asked.

The car ride was silent and the only emotion that Hakuba saw cross Kuroba's face was a light smile when they pulled up to his house.

"I know this place."

"You do, or is it Kaito-kun's memory that you have?"

Kuroba shook his head. "It feels like my memory."

"Ok, no progress then." Hakuba got out of the car and leaned in to speak with the magician. "Stay here while I talk to Kuroba-kun mother – ah, Kaito-kun's mother – I think you'll only upset her if she sees you first."

"I understand." Kuroba put the seat back and laid on his hands. "I'll wait in the car."

Hakuba walked away, unsure of what he was going to tell her. The metal fence felt like it was shaking underneath his hand before the detective realized it was his own nerves.

"Calm down," he ordered himself as he rang the doorbell.

Kuroba's mother came to the door and Hakuba felt terrible for not checking up on her sooner. Her hair, even though it was short, was still a mess and her clothes looked like she hadn't cared about what she put on, clashing terribly with each other.

"What do you want?" Her voice was still strong and spoke to him gently.

"I need to speak with you for a moment." Hakuba bowed his head. "May I come in?"

"Kaito's not here."

"I know, he – can I speak with you inside?"

Kuroba's mother caught the meaning of his works and opened the wooden door with some protest. Hakuba took off his shoes and followed her to the main room, much smaller then his own but common throughout Japan.

"What do you want to speak to me about?" The woman asked, kneeling in front of a wooden table. Hakuba took a seat across from her.

"I've found Kuroba-kun but he's not himself at the moment. I thought I should tell you before I let him see you."

The calmness that Kuroba's mother carried around was wiped away and the detective saw her hands start to shake. "But he's alright?"

"In a way. He's not physically hurt very badly but mentally there's something wrong with him."

"I wondered why he didn't come home," she whispered quietly. "So what's wrong with him?"

"He thinks his someone else." Hakuba looked at the table and didn't know how to make his words sound any less crazy or hurtful than they sounded in his mind. The woman remained silent and watched the detective with a patience that he would only grant the gods for possessing. "He thinks he's your husband."

"What?" Kuroba's mother choked back a laugh with her surprise. "Really?"

"I'm glad you find it so much more amusing than I did" Hakuba sighed, relaxing for the first time since he stepped up to the house.

"I don't find it funny, just a little strange and something so weird I can only see Kaito doing it." The woman laughed softly and got up from the table. "So where is he?"

Before Hakuba could answer he heard Kuroba's very distinctive voice come from off to the side.

"I'm right here Chikage."

They were both surprised at how easily the magician had come upon them. He was leaning against the wall as if he'd been there the whole time and was staring at Kuroba's mother with unusual intensity.

"Kaito?" she shook her head. "So, you think you're Toichi."

"I don't think, I know." The magician moved his hands from his pocket and crossed them in front of his chest as he looked around. "I know who I am as well as I know your name. I think something very wrong has happened."

"I thought you said that you weren't sure if you were a part of Kaito-kun's mind or not?"

"I wasn't sure before I had a look around. Things have changed." Kuroba closed his eyes. "But I am Toichi and I can prove it."


	4. Real Magic

_**Chapter 4: Real Magic**_

* * *

_**...**_

_****__**...**_

_What is reality?_  
_I am a plaster doll; I pose_  
_with eyes that cut open without landfall or nightfall_  
_upon some shellacked and grinning person,_  
_eyes that open, blue, steel, and close._  
_- Anne Sexton_

"How can you prove it?" Hakuba asked with more than a little doubt. "You don't have any memories."

"_Didn't_. Passed tense. Walking into this house has brought some of them back."

"Kaito-kun's?"

Kuroba shook his head. "My own." He looked over at Kaito's mother. "When we were first dating your father had the fits over me. He said a magician was no one, that you couldn't make a living off of the pay of some common street performer. I don't remember, or think I would, share the information with anyone."

Kaito's mother was still as she watched her son.

"And if that information had somehow gotten out, the only other thing I can think of that this boy wouldn't have heard would be that," Kuroba used his fingers to tick off his list. "I have a strange distaste for carrots, I hate it when I accidentally put too much cream in my coffee – which I remember doing constantly –, I enjoy any form of entertainment including children's performances, and I have a strong affinity for western jazz."

Kuroba raised his eyebrows when the room stayed quiet after he was finished speaking. "I could name you my favor musicians if you wish."

"Kaito couldn't have known that," Kaito's mother whisper to both of them. "We've never talked about trivial things like that after Toichi's death."

"I still can't say that I'm myself yet." Kuroba clutched his clothing where his heart would be and met Kaito's mother's eyes. "But inside, I feel I'm right."

"Toichi-san, since that is you, how is that possible?"

Kuroba shook his head. "I'm not sure. I don't remember having a son and I don't remember much after marrying Chikage so it would seem that, while I'm not Kaito-kun, I'm still not completely myself without my memories."

"I don't understand this" Kaito's mother spoke up first. Everyone looked at each other in mutual agreement.

"So what do we do? How would we be able to get Kaito-kun back in his body?" _I sounded like a madman, _Hakuba thought to himself. _When did I start believing in ghost?_

Kuroba shook his head. "I can't control this." He waved a hand down at a body he knew wasn't his own. "I'm not even sure how it happened."

"I – I'm sorry Toichi but I want my son back." Kaito's mother spoke out fiercely in defiance to her husband's easy manner.

"I know," the magician's eyes flashed with a perceptive light. "I figured as much when you made no move to come close to me. You're afraid of losing me again." He closed his eyes, "Or losing Kaito-kun."

"Kaito's stronger than you think," she said as she stood up and came closer to Toichi, challenging what Kuroba had said about her distance. "If there's a way, he'll find it. I don't see why I shouldn't enjoy the time I have with you now until he does."

Kaito's mother walked right up to Toichi and a bemused smile crossed his face. "You know how tempted I am to kiss you at this moment?" He asked with humor. "I don't think you'd like the aftereffects of it when Kaito-kun's back or I would have done so already."

"How thoughtful of you. If you really are my husband though, why don't you remember our son? You were with him for eight years."

Kuroba narrowed his eyes and looked passed her. "I'm not sure. There are only four people coming to mind that I remember with clarity. That would be you, Ginzo, Kudo Yusaku, and I remember all my actions as Kid."

"Don't you remember Yukiko?" Kaito's mother frowned. "I didn't even know you knew her husband?"

"Yusaku-kun was married?" Kuroba looked authentically shocked.

"I think they were engaged at the time. Yukiko-kun used to come here all the time to learn your magic."

"I _taught_ some else how to do my magic tricks?" Kuroba shook his head. "Why would I do that?"

"You didn't teach her much. If anything I think she came here for lessons in disguise for some movie role than for magic tricks."

"I don't remember her." Kuroba sat down at the table and Chikage followed him back. The magician eyed the both of them before steepling his fingers and getting settled. "I'd like to know everything that's been going on in this family since my death."

…

While Kaito's mother was able to fill him in on all the earlier stuff, Hakuba had an easier job of explaining Kid's actions since his return. Kuroba remained silent through the whole affair and only showed any signs of discomfort when Hakuba replayed the last night he'd seen Kaito as himself.

"There's one thing that must be done before this is sorted out. Ginzo is a determined man and if he suspects that Kaito-kun has gone missing he will act on it. I must go to school tomorrow then and play the role of him. After that I'll continue what I started and search for those men. I'm not going to give them a chance to get at my family ever again."

"Before you do anything, you have to fix your voice" Hakuba suggested. "You don't sound anything like Kaito-kun."

"Yes, he's right. Make your voice higher and stop using such formal words."

"This is going to be difficult but very well." Kuroba swallowed before think of how much higher his pitch should be. "Acting like a teenager again shouldn't be hard."

"You're still stressing your words too much. Kaito's voice is always easy and flowing."

"Right, but I really don't know what it is I'm supposed to be saying while I try this out."

"Good now quit acting your age," Hakuba put in.

"No one's ever told me that before," Kuroba laughed.

Hakuba watched as Toichi and Chikage continued to talk to one another to make sure that the magician annunciated the right words correctly. His eyes stared to close again and the detective wondered what time it was. It was Sunday so he could sleep in but he wasn't going to bed here. It would be too invasive.

"Hakuba-kun."

The voice and a poke to his shoulder woke the detective up. He rubbed an eye with the back of his hand and tried to pretend he hadn't fallen asleep.

"Go get some rest; I'm going to bed too."

"I can't -"

"Go," Kuroba picked him up off the floor but the back of his shirt and pushed him towards the stairs. "You can sleep in Kaito-kun's room. I don't feel comfortable there. I'm going to be in the main room if you go looking for me."

"You still talk too formal," Hakuba mumbled through half-lidded eyes as he made his way up the foreign staircase.

"I'll work on it."

Though his detective instincts were telling him to look around the room while he had the chance, he was too tired to act on them. Kaito's bed lay in front of him and Hakuba half-way collapsed on top of it before instantly falling asleep.

…

The noise from down the stairs could not be ignored forever and Hakuba decided it was time to get up when he wasn't able to fall back to sleep after the first few minutes.

It took him a moment to become familiar with his surroundings. Kaito's room was a unique shade of blue with a short trimmed white carpet and a wooden closet imbedded into the wall in front of him. There was a large balcony that led outside near a lamp on the other side of the room and a stereo set on the ground.

What interested the detective the most was a large portrait of Kaito's father that hung on the wall adjacent to the balcony.

Hakuba looked it over with the scrutiny of an art lover. It was well made and not done in the usual oil based paints but something thicker. The detective had never seen the magician's father and the picture filled in some similarities. They both had the same shade of hair, where his mother's was lighter, and the same eye color. Everything else about them was different. Toichi's eyes were narrower and his face squarer where Kaito's wasn't as defined and his eyes were wide. The senior magician's hair style was similar on top but balanced between unruly and purposely styled where the younger magician's was more chaotic.

"I can't believe I'm actually starting to miss Kuroba-kun." Hakuba smiled to himself as he walked out of the room and deliberately made some noise so that the others would know he was awake and not snooping around their house.

The image that came to him when he reached the kitchen was decisively strange. Hakuba was hit with the thick smell of coffee as Kuroba sat at the table with a cup in his hand and a newspaper in the other. The newspaper wasn't anything new but the coffee was. Hakuba shuddered at the though of Kaito on caffeine.

"I want to try and get that diamond back," Kuroba announced and looked up to meet the detective's eyes. "I'd appreciate your cooperation on that matter. If it's important for – what I need," he paused "I can not give it back to you. If not, it shall be duly returned."

"You're still hurt though, aren't you?" Hakuba asked as he accepted a cup of coffee from Kaito's mother.

"Yes," Kuroba lowered his eyes and pushed a hand into his shoulder with force to judge how badly he was still injured. "I can get by fine and I'm interested in this gem enough that I could really care less about my wellbeing."

"Kaito-kun's wellbeing you mean." Hakuba tensed up his hands but relaxed when Kuroba looked discomforted at his response.

"You're right. I still think that I must go after it. I'm not sure how to get it out of the water but," he closed his eyes. "I have a suspicious feeling that it's important that I do."

"Are you going to tell the police?"

Kuroba nodded. "If– those people have a chance of showing up, I would like to take the opportunity to stop them. I was going to talk to Ginzo about arranging some way of taking them down with me."

"You can't do that? What do you think will happen to Kaito-kun when you do? You'll have to tell him – not everything but a lot."

"I'm aware of that and I don't think Kaito-kun would have any problems with it."

"How would you know? You don't even remember him." Hakuba could feel how angry he was getting. Only the magician could ever pull any hostility out of him when he was trying to hide it. "You can sit there and plan things out because they won't affect you in the long run, be a third-party representative who doesn't have to face the consequences, but you don't know what Kaito-kun would want. As kind as Nakamori-keibu is, I doubt that would stop him from putting Kaito-kun in jail if he found out."

"If that is to be the result of arresting these men, then so be it." Kuroba's eyes were hard and the detective met his stare with an equally resolute one. Neither of them spoke.

"Enough of this." Kaito's mother slammed her hands on the table, making both of them jump. Kuroba hide his surprise the fastest, behind crossed arms and a turned head. She looked at her husband.

"You didn't tell me you were planning any of this."

"Because I knew you would be against it. You always were too kind and worried too much so I believed that it would be fine if I had this young detective on my side at the very least. It seems I've read him wrong."

"No you haven't." Kaito's mother moved to stand next to Hakuba and away from her husband. "If you've thought this up just now, then Kaito would have thought of it too. He didn't act on it so I don't want you to either."

"It's foolish to let these murderers go free." Kuroba sighed, "But I never could fight you honey. I'm sorry if I upset you. I won't go through that part of my plan."

"Good." Kaito's mother moved behind Hakuba and put both hands on his shoulders. "Because he can do it."

"What?" The two boys said in unison.

"Hakuba-kun's been working with Ginzo-san for a while now. He can convince him that the men coming after the Kid are more dangerous then chasing after you and should be arrested. When he does, it will be easy to help them from the shadows."

"A plausible idea but one with too many holes in it. The police could choose to go after me anyways and these men are dangerous. Take your eye off them for a second and you're dead." Kuroba smiled with the irony of it. "I should know."

"It'll work." Hakuba thought back on everything Nakamori had said to him last night. He seemed interested in these hit men to an extent and, if warned about them, should be able to put up some kind of ambush.

"First things first and you're going to school tomorrow. Plan the heist for the end of the week so that people don't think that Kaito's dead." Kaito's mother spoke and she walked out of the room.

"Yes, that would be smart." Kuroba eyed Hakuba with a playful smile he hadn't seen from the old man before and a raised eyebrow. "You wouldn't happen to know if there was any homework, would you?"

…

School the next day wasn't terrible. It could have been worse, but Toichi wasn't the best at acting like a teenager.

The teacher called on him a few times and he went to the board and answered her questions with grace. Hakuba and Kaito's mother had both described some of his pranks but the older man had told them he thought it was unnecessary to go that far.

Unfortunately it made the class so on edge, expecting something now that the magician had returned, that it was hard for them to focus on their lessons anyway.

Hakuba had thought Aoko would draw out the magician first, but Akako grabbed him just as lunch started and pulled him out of the room. Hakuba quickly put his things away and followed them.

"Who are you?" Their classmate asked with anger.

"Kuroba-kun," Toichi answered truthfully as Hakuba made his way beside him.

"You sure aren't Kuroba-kun. I can tell a spirit when I see one."

"Really?" Toichi asked with interest. "Do you have any idea how to get me out of this body then?"

"Not without destroying you. Dark powers aren't easy to control," the witch let a smile cross her face. "So who are you skin walker?"

"Kuroba-kun and that's all you need to know if you're unable to be of any help." The magician walked down the hall with a smile on his face and Hakuba followed.

"I don't believe in Koizumi-kun's magic, but if she knows something we don't then shouldn't we listen to her?" Hakuba asked. If she was able to tell that Kaito wasn't in his body then she had some powers, even if he didn't understand them.

"Just wait for it," Kuroba smirked. The magician put his hands in the pockets of his school uniform as he walked down the hall. When they turned the corner the magician went up the stairs, towards the roof.

"How do you know where you're going?" Hakuba asked him as they went up the two floors necessary to get there. Kuroba laughed at him.

"Stairs are usually position in the middle and edges of a building, more so in schools that are short in width and long in length. I figured to get to the roof I'd have to go up." He laughed lightly again when he finished his explanation, making his actions seem so obvious that a monkey could a figured it out. Hakuba noticed the criticism.

"I've had a lot of things that couldn't be explained happen around me recently. Forgive me for overlooking the normal when it comes to you."

"Me or Kaito-kun?" he asked with a smile.

"Both," Hakuba shot back.

Kuroba opened the door and Hakuba had to turn his head to the side as it blinded him. The magician didn't seem to have any problems with the light and walked out into the sunshine. Hakuba sighed, looking down at his long-sleeve shirt before following.

As he suspected it was smoldering out. The sun was left unhidden by any clouds and the news that day had said it would be in the high nineties. The black clothing of Hakuba's uniform seemed to make him ten degrees hotter than that and he showed little self-restraint when he removed his coat.

Kuroba seemed to bask in the warmth instead of being suffocated by it and leaned against the cement boundary that protected anyone from leaning alongside the fence a foot after it and falling through if it rusted. The magician put his head down and closed his eyes with a smile.

"What are we doing out here?" Hakuba almost didn't want to ask.

"We're waiting for the stubborn girl to decide that she likes seeing Kaito-kun more then some spirit. She's an obstinate one but she'll come."

Hakuba doubted it. Koizumi looked like someone who would sooner eat you than help you but Hakuba had only seen that behavior demonstrated around Kaito so he couldn't speak for her when it came to the others in the class. They didn't catch the girl's attention as much as Kaito could and Hakuba would have wondered if Aoko was going to have some competition if the magician hadn't been so advert to the idea of spending any alone time with her.

Less than five minutes later Koizumi was indeed on the rooftop with them and Hakuba looked at her with mild surprise.

"I win," Kuroba whispered to him so the girl couldn't hear before she walked over to them.

"This isn't a game Toichi-san."

"I know," the man said before getting up and sitting on top of the concrete border instead of against it. He smiled at the girl and Koizumi looked like she was ready to turn back around and leave. Instead she crossed her arms and looked Kuroba over for a minute.

"So how did it happen?" She turned her head to the side and glared at them. "It's not a simple matter to put a foreign soul into a person's body and I can't counteract it if I don't know what's caused it."

Hakuba and Toichi starred at one another before the magician shrugged and Hakuba shook his head. "We don't know," the detective explained to her.

Koizumi narrowed her eyes and watched the detective with unbridled worry and hate, glancing a few times at the magician. "This kind of thing does not happen by accident. There has to be magic involved for it to even be possible and I know Kuroba-kun's magic isn't real."

"Magic you say," Kuroba's eyes narrowed and he looked down, once again sliding the smile out of place in a way that seemed natural. "I don't know if it's magical or not but if that is the case -" The magician crossed his hands in his lap and tapped his foot on the boarder as he though to himself.

"So you have some idea of what it is that caused this," Hakuba inclined. "Would you please tell the rest of us so that we can understand as well?"

"I told you it would take a miracle to get it. That's what we need now and I hardly have the equipment for such an expenditure." He closed his eyes and kept his posture so unlike Kaito's that Hakuba caught something close to a miserable look from Koizumi before she hid it behind a frown.

"If it's strong magic, I can't interfere with it. The spell would have to be broken."

"I was planning on something of that nature in any case so it doesn't matter, but I can't understand how it made something like this occur. That wasn't what it was supposed to do."

"I don't know who you are but you shouldn't be playing around with magic you can't control!" Koizumi shouted at him and the magician was startled, physically losing his balance and falling into the fence.

"Do you mind?!" He shouted as he got back up onto the barrier. "I was trying to think. And if it's any of your business I was not playing around with magic that I couldn't comprehend. Magic should never deceive the one performing it and I don't fancy the black arts as anything more than philanthropy brought to an unrealistic level and turned against itself."

"So you think I'm a charlatan?" Koizumi asked when her pride was insulted.

"I do not think that." Toichi glared at her with his own style of serious and playful that was downright scary when used the right way, "I think that most people out there are but that there are phenomenon in nature, and thus in people, which cannot be comprehended and yet exists in any case. I do not believe purely in only what I can see or I would be a very narrow minded person."

"Ouch," Hakuba said sarcastically. "I think I was just insulted."

Kuroba smiled, "Yes that would have been an insult to you. I've seen how you still hardly believe in my own existence even as I speak to you. If it weren't for my ravishingly good vocabulary and manner compared to Kaito-kun's, you'd still be thinking in some logical way that I was a part of his psyche."

"You can't blame me for that," Hakuba said as he crossed his arms. "I'm a logical being."

"In any case I can't help you." Koizumi walked away, turning back when she reached the door. "Whatever transpires from here on out can't be stopped with my magic. I hope you can get Kuroba-kun back."

"I do too," Hakuba whispered. Kuroba looked down at his hands and started thinking again. "I don't know why, but we need to get that diamond back, don't we?"

Kuroba looked up and jumped off the four foot wall. "Yes we do, now let's go perform that miracle."


	5. Those Forgotten

_**Chapter 5: Those Forgotten**_

* * *

_**...**_

_****__**...**_

_I walked abroad in a snowy day;_  
_I asked the soft snow with me to play;...I walked abroad in a snowy day;_  
_I asked the soft snow with me to play;_  
_She played and she melted in all her prime,_  
_And the winter called it a dreadful crime._  
_- William Blake_

"I don't like being treated like some illusion! I am real. I am not an enigma to be examined under a scope and locked in a box. Though this is not my body, my mind is my own and you cannot deny me what I think and feel. They are authentic emotions and I refuse to downplay them for the sake of others every waking moment of my life!" Toichi finally exploded after three days of school. "I can't be expected to act like someone I'm not for so long!"

"You're not very good at pretending anyway," Hakuba said with a sigh as he watched the magician pace around the house that he could remember, in the body of the son he could not.

"I know. Toichi was never very good at acting for long periods of time." Kaito's mother shook her head with a smile "At least not longer than a performance or a card game, which is why I had to make a phone call the other day. You're not good at lying to people. Kaito's much better at it."

"As long as I can hide things, why would I need to lie?" Kuroba stopped his pacing. "Who did you call on the phone?"

"I had a very innocent talk with Yukiko-chan about you. We haven't heard from each other in so long and she and her husband were free so she said she'd come for a visit."

"What good will that do?" Kuroba asked but there was something mischievous about him now that could have been mistaken for Kaito.

"You want to get some of your memories back while you have the time, don't you? I don't expect you to be able to get that gem back this weekend since it's at the bottom of a large bay, and I thought it would do you some good."

"It would be interesting, to say the least." Kuroba put a hand up to his face and Hakuba wondered what it was about this man that interested the older magician so much. "So Yukiko-san, if I remember her, is a Kudo now."

_Kudo?_ That was a lot more familiar to Hakuba then the other names they'd been throwing around. "Is this man related to the Kudo-kun who's become so famous in these last years?"

Kuroba looked confused but Kaito's mother nodded. "Yes, they had a son around the same time Kaito was born so we saw even less of each other. They stayed in the neighborhood for a while but neither of us had any time with our children. She came around now and then but I never did get to see her son."

Kuroba thought about it, trying to remember, but he shook his head. "It may help if I had a look at her. I started to get my memories back when I saw you, and this house, so it may work in the same way."

"That's why I invited them over." Kaito's mother fixed up the couch where her husband had been sitting earlier with a pleased look on her face. "They'll be here tomorrow so that nothing interferes with whatever you two are planning to get the diamond back."

The magician and detective looked at each other before smiling in unison. They hadn't planned anything.

Kaito's mother walked out of the room and the magician turned on him, looking much happier than he had throughout school that day. Aoko had tried to egg him on and Toichi, unsure of what to do, settled on vanishing out of the room in a very Kaito like way. The smoke had taken ages to ventilate because the windows were closed due to the hot weather. Aoko had glared at him the rest the day and it seemed to affect the older magician.

"So, you will be able to get Ginzo to go after the assassins, right? While you do that I'll try and find some way to get to the diamond. I have some contacts left but few of them who would listen to a dead man."

"I'll do my part. I'm going to stick with the Inspector as well so you'll be on your own. If you've gotten rusty, you're going to get caught" Hakuba smiled, getting back at the man.

"I'd never get rusty. You're looking at someone who's been stealing for over a decade."

"And died because of it. Along with that, you're memories are still incomplete." The detective took the time to think about his own words. If Toichi _was_ caught….

"I never get rusty. Of all my memories, the one's I have as Kaitou Kid are all intact so there's no need to fuss over that." Kuroba grinned as he thought of something. "If I did have a son, Kaito wouldn't be such a bad name."

"Shut up and do your homework." Hakuba pointed to the backpack at the man's vocalized irony. Kuroba had been lagging in that part of teenage life and Hakuba knew Kaito would be mad that his grades were suffering _when_ he got back.

Toichi looked at it out of the corner of his eyes before facing the detective. "Can't you do it? With my scattered memories, schoolwork had actually been difficult – and it's very tedious." The magician relaxed into the couch. "Besides, a few days of not turning in work won't hurt the boy's grades any worse than I am, and I won't need the information when I'm gone again."

Hakuba walked out of the room up to Kaito's; He'd made it his own since he couldn't leave Toichi to himself to and from school and he saw no point in taking the bus back every night. "Just do it. You're the one riding in someone else's body and you told me before you didn't want to interfere with his life."

"This is interfering!" Kuroba shouted after him. "I'm making him look like an idiot!"

Hakuba laughed to himself. It wasn't such a bad thing if people started to underestimate Kaito. It could only help him in the long run if he was trying to avoid suspicion and there was always next year to get better grades.

It would also put Hakuba at the top of the class so really, it didn't matter.

…

Aoko had been more trouble than she was yesterday and physically held onto Kuroba before he could leave after school. He tried to wiggle free of her but Aoko was used to Kaito being able to do the same and knew how to latch herself onto him.

"Kaito, what's the matter with you?"

"Nothing Aoko" Kuroba sputtered, almost forgetting not to talk formally to her. "I just thought I should stop goofing around for a while. Give it a break for once."

Aoko frowned at him and held on tighter so that her grip hurt. "Kaito would never say something like that."

"Well I just said it. Try and make me take it back." Toichi attempted to play around with her so that she'd lower her guard. It worked slightly.

"Stop it then." Aoko let go of him when she saw that the rest of the class that hadn't left yet were all watching her and she started to blush. Hakuba could do nothing to interfere with the spat.

"I'll stop it soon, ok?" Kuroba patted her on the head like a little girl and the detective saw a brief frown cross his face before he smiled again and walked out the door.

"What was that?" Hakuba asked when he caught up to the magician.

"I don't know." Toichi was facing straight but it was clear he was thinking of something, even if Hakuba couldn't see his expression. "I think I knew that girl."

"Probably." The detective looked back to make sure they weren't being followed. "I heard that Kuroba – ah, Kaito-kun and Aoko-kun grew up together so you probably saw her then."

"So I can remember one of my son's friends and not him?" Kuroba asked with half-lidded eyes. "That's – encouraging."

"It's your mind, not mine. I can't say what's normal or not." Hakuba tapped him lightly on the side of the head and watched the magician wince. "I'm still not sure that you didn't hurt – sorry, that Kaito-kun didn't hurt something inside his head either, so that could be the reason you can't get at your memories. If you're sharing the same body, you'd be more than likely sharing the same aliments."

"Yes, that could be it." Kuroba rubbed the side of his head where Hakuba hit him. "If that's the case, do you think Kaito-kun will have amnesia as well when he gets his body back?"

Hakuba's shoulders sank. "I hope not. I don't want to go through all this again."

"Maybe you won't have to." Toichi suddenly became very serious and continued to look ahead as they walked. "It'll be hard. I might not be able to find the diamond."

"Don't remind me." Hakuba shrugged, the magician clearly expected him to be angry. "I already know how impossible that sounds. That doesn't mean that we're going to stop."

"I know. My wife would kill me if I couldn't find a solution for this," Toichi laughed.

Hakuba had noticed another similarity the more time his spent with the man. Although he acted and spoke nothing like his son, they both had the same caring, and yet confident smile that spoke of no hidden motives, unlike the rest of their actions.

"Does it make you sad that you can't remember him?" Hakuba asked. The magician looked perplexed for a moment before he understood the detective's sudden change in topic.

"You can't miss what you don't remember."

It was all he said and Hakuba had no reason that wasn't purely selfish to bring up the question again.

When they got to the Kuroba house, the magician's attitude did a one-eighty again.

Hakuba walked after him and saw two people he did not recognize in the main room with Kaito's mother. That wasn't too out of the ordinary because she'd told Hakuba she was inviting them over. What startled him, and the other boy, was when he ran into Conan.

"Ha – Hakuba-kun?" The little boy asked in surprise. Hakuba looked at him curiously.

"Hello Conan-kun. It's nice to see you again." The detective looked back up at the other two and wondered if Conan was somehow a relative of Kudo. It would certainly explain his advanced notions when it came to Anthropology.

"Hello." Conan nodded to Hakuba in a much more appropriate greeting before running behind a woman with long cream colored hair and whispering something in her ear.

Kuroba watched the woman and little boy as well, although he was focusing more on the female. Hakuba saw him share a glance with his wife before he shook his head.

Kaito's mother took over at that point. "Yukiko-chan, this is Kaito-kun. I'm sure you remember him."

"Remember him?" A dark look came upon the woman and she got up to mess up the magician's hair. She did it roughly and wasn't trying to hurt him but Hakuba saw Toichi cringe away before escaping her. "I remember some little boy calling me an _old lady!_"

"What?" Toichi asked in surprised. "You're not that old."

"Not _that_ old?! You certainly don't learn your manners do you?" The woman looked like a snake ready to strike but a hand on her shoulder from Kaito's mother and a pleading look from her husband calmed her down. She sat back at the table, with a hand resting on her chin and glared at Kuroba before smiling. "I haven't seen you since you were six Kaito-kun."

Kuroba looked awkward being addressed as Kaito and didn't have much to say. Having a conversation with the man seemed out of the question, since Kaito wasn't familiar with him and it would sound strange, so Kuroba sat down and remained silent.

Hakuba looked at the older gentleman, not having met any of the Kudo family before. He had a thick mustache and glasses that were an exact replica of Conan's, further stating the fact that they had some connection to one another, and eyes behind them that matched in shape and color.

It was strange that, after Kuroba had sat down, how intently he looked at the boy who continued to hide behind the female Kudo the way a child would his own mother. Maybe Kudo-kun had a little brother; Hakuba hadn't cared enough to ask before.

"Conan-kun you said?" Kuroba looked at Hakuba for an instant before looking back at the boy with a grin that suited the maker of Kid. "It's like I'm your little brother then."

Hakuba didn't expect the reaction he got from both Conan and Yusaku Kudo. Both immediately narrowed their eyes at Toichi before Yusaku coughed in his hand, pretending he hadn't read into what Toichi had inferred. Conan didn't look away.

"Who are you?" the small detective asked. Hakuba watched as he drew himself out in the open to drive his question forward.

"Kuroba-kun," Toichi said easily. "And you're Shinichi-kun. I'd recognize you anywhere." The magician moved forward and snatched Conan's glasses away from him before putting a hand on his head. "You haven't change at all." That made a frown cross his face.

"Yusaku, you've aged, why is your son still young?"

Everyone was looking at Kuroba and Hakuba put his hands up to his face. "Sit down Kuroba-kun."

"Opps," the older magician said with some embarrassment before crossing his arm as he sat down and looking at the table. "I may have gotten carried away."

"_May?_" Hakuba mumbled sarcastically. "I thought this was going to be a 'look but don't touch' demonstration?"

"But I remembered Shini -" Toichi stopped midsentence and stared at Yukiko with his mouth slightly open. After a few moments, his gaze went somewhere else, even as his eyes didn't.

"Dear god," the magician breathed out after a few minutes of anxious silence as they all watched him. Toichi got shakily up to his feet and left the room. "I have to use the bathroom. I – I'll be back."

Hakuba got up to follow him without question and nodded to Kaito's mother. "I'll see what's wrong with him."

"Thank you Hakuba-kun," she nodded back.

"What's going on?" Yusaku asked, interrupting Conan – who was likely about to ask the same question. Hakuba didn't stick around to find out what Chikage told them.

Kuroba had indeed gone to the bathroom and Hakuba found him stilling on the cold tile floor by the wooden cabinets under the sink. He had his hands over his head and his face between his upraised knees. It was a defensive position so Hakuba didn't get near him but sat on the toilet seat.

"What happen?" the detective asked tentatively.

When the magician raised his head he no longer held any of the sophistication that he'd been carrying around. Hakuba felt strange to be seeing Kaito's face with that kind of expression. There were obvious marks on his face where a few tears had fallen and he'd quickly hid them when the detective came in.

"I remember him now," Toichi told him as he looked at the ground in front of him. "How could I have forgotten my own son?"

"It's not like you could control it so don't let it bother you. Its Kaito-kun's own fault if he got himself hurt, and it's not your responsibility to do anything."

"If you're father suddenly forget that you ever existed, you wouldn't mind?" Kuroba asked with no emotion.

"It would bother me but I'd understand. You've done nothing wrong."

Unlike Kaito, Toichi was easy to win over with logic and he soon put one leg down to lean easily against the other with a tired smile on his face. "Kaito was so cute back then. He would always follow me around and try to learn how I did my tricks. I taught him a few along the way." Toichi closed his eyes. "I promised to teach him the rest when he got older. I couldn't have my seven-year-old escaping a flaming coffin. I guess I never got that chance."

"That's not your fault either," Hakuba said determinedly. "Those men, the one's that neither of you will tell me about, they killed you didn't they?"

Kuroba lowered his head. "Yes, but I taunted them. I kept stealing as the Kaitou Kid even after I turned them-" Toichi narrowed his eyes and, for the first time, took measure of what he was saying. "I'm sorry, I can't say, but I deserved what I got. I was a fool."

"You know Kaito-kun is doing the same thing that you were. Do you think he's a fool too? I may not understand everything but I know that it must be something important. You died for it after all."

"It was – is – important, but not enough for me to have left my son – and my wife." Toichi closed his eyes and withdrew himself again. Hakuba shrugged and let the man be. There was nothing he could say to him that the magician hadn't already rationalized for himself.

"I've got to find that gem," Toichi startled him by saying loudly.

"That _was_ the plan" the detective said after his nerves settled down. He wasn't ready for anything unmanageable at the moment. Too many strange occurrences and questions were plaguing his life that at the moment that he didn't have answers for, and not all of them had to do with the Kuroba family.

"I know that was the plan. I'm just more determined now then I was before. I have to get my son back." Toichi stood up and walked out of the room. Hakuba followed like a duckling, unsure if he should be stopping him or not.

They walked back into the main room and were met with several confused looks.

"What did Chikage tell you?" Toichi asked without restraint.

"That there's something wrong with your head," Yusaku answered calmly.

"She's lying. Sorry honey," Toichi turned to his wife "I'm going to need help and I don't know where else to seek it."

She nodded. "Don't get yourself into too much trouble."

"As if it were possible to be worse off than I am now." The magician turned his attention to the Kudos. "Yusaku, Yukiko, I'm Toichi. I can't explain the how but I need your help."

Yukiko laughed but Yusaku seemed to believe him, appearing surprised and sweeping a look over Kaito's body.

"My comment may have given it away to you earlier. I would appreciate it if your son, though I'm confused on that matter, would keep out of it since I have no reason to trust him and he cannot understand what I'm doing."

"You're going to have to explain things to me first." Yusaku shooed off his wife when she tried to interrupt him. "I would also like it if you didn't call him my son."

A look passed between them and Hakuba didn't have time to see what unsaid message they were sharing before they both smiled.

"I'll drop Conan-kun off and I'll be back with my wife in about half-an hour then. I'll want that explanation." Yusaku picked up Conan with the smaller boy struggling against him until they exited the house.

Chikage looked at her husband when the Kudos left and appeared genuinely happier then she had in a long while. "You remember Kaito."

"Yes and I'm surprised you weren't more upset with me." Toichi sat down and Hakuba followed, feeling at a loss.

"I couldn't be angry with you for not remembering."

Toichi smiled a very sad smile. "This boy said the same thing to me. It's funny how I can't allow myself to believe it unless someone tells it to me." Toichi turned his head to the side and looked Hakuba over for the first time. "Where do you fit into all of this? Why are you helping me? – And Kaito?"

Hakuba shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It could be for selfish reasons and I won't deny them. I've held a rivalry with Kaito-kun and life wouldn't be any fun without it." The detective smiled as he thought more on the subject. That really was his only reason.

"You're just like Yusaku and me then." The magician got up and stretched, looking tired, or at least showing it for the first time. He winked. "You'll be good friends."


	6. Setting the Stage

_**Chapter 6: Setting the Stage**_

* * *

_**...**_

_****__**...**_

_A good performance, like a human life,_  
_is a temporal affair—a process in time._  
_It is good as a whole through being good_  
_in its parts, and through their good order to one another._  
_It cannot be called good as a whole until it is finished._  
_- Mortimer J. Adler_

Toichi explained everything to them. He included Hakuba in the conversation when he started speaking of Kid – the idea of Kid and what he'd set out to do before he died. Unlike Hakuba and Yusaku, it had taken a few minutes for Yukiko to understand everything. She was the longest to convince that Toichi wasn't lying about who he was and the longest to calm down after he'd explained how he was killed. It hadn't even been a week after he'd turned them down that he'd been followed without his knowledge and they'd started planning his murder.

"And you can't explain how you've come back into this world?" Yusaku asked nonchalantly with his hands placed under his chin.

"I have a few theories but nothing substantial. If this Pandora they requisitioned me for was real, and I have trouble believing genuine magic is out there, then it's possible that it was in the gem that Kaito dropped a few weeks ago." Toichi closed his eyes and beseeched Yusaku with his words. "I can think of no other way to get my son back and I've no equipment for something so large scale. I would need help, and plenty of it."

"I've got some friends who I could call in," Yusaku nodded gravely, with a hint of warmth to it.

"So do I, hopefully. If we can get the help, can you get the equipment necessary for underwater diving at night?"

"I can" Yukiko spoke up as she continued to look at the table with seemingly none of the energy she had demonstrated when she arrived. Toichi's confessions had affected her and she had no problem letting her worry and betrayal show. "Toichi-kun, I have a question for you."

Kuroba lifted his head to the side and faced her. "What is it?"

"How – how much did you know about Sharon?" Yukiko's eyes shone brightly with some hidden meaning behind her question that Hakuba couldn't discern. The magician blinked a few times as he tried to understand as well.

"Why do you ask that?" he settled on, avoiding giving an answer.

"When I came to get help from you, Sharon had come with me. You told her something strange that I didn't understand back then, now I want to know how much you knew about her." There was a flash of anger in Yukiko's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kuroba made no move to settle her down. He stated the facts cleanly with warmth that wasn't meant to contradict her. "Sharon was a strange one. I knew that she was up to something but I couldn't tell what it was. It seems that it's effected you badly though. I'm sorry." The magician looked up so that he could see her reaction. "I didn't want to turn her down. Though I couldn't get a focus on her motives, it didn't mean I couldn't see good in them. Back then I told her that she was free to use what I taught her anyway she pleased, as long as it made her happy. That's still what I believe today."

"Do you know who she's working for?" There were definite tears in her eyes that her anger wouldn't let fall and Hakuba felt the need to turn away. "Do you know how much my son has been put through? How much could have been avoided if you'd simply turned her away?" She lowered for voice a touch as emotion quieted her. "Do you know how many people she's probably killed?"

"I couldn't have turned her down anymore than I could have you. I'm sorry I wasn't here to face the repercussions of my choice," the magician said coolly. Hakuba had no idea what it was they were arguing over so he didn't know whose side to be on. Not knowing what was going on around him was maddening.

"How can you be so calm about it? Did you know about her then?"

"I did not know." Kuroba closed his eyes again, a default he seemed to fall on when he was thinking of the right words to say. "And as for my composed behavior, you have to remember that I'm a charlatan." The magician smiled and he relaxed to let his eyes reveal emotions that he couldn't show "I'm good at hiding my feelings."

"Then you shouldn't!" Yukiko calmed down and let her husband stroke her arm.

"It's far too late for that. Showing off my emotions isn't part of who I am I wouldn't change anything about myself. I'm happy with who I've become," the magician looked upward and sighed, letting a baleful smile cross his lips. "Well, maybe I would have liked to be more cautious. It would have saved a lot of trouble."

"Back to the matter at hand," Yusaku cut in. "We've got the people and equipment but those after you will be there as well. I don't know many of my friends who would go that far for a thief. It's better if they don't know you're there."

"I'll draw the bad guys out. Lead them to the police. I've known a few officers in section one that will come along as well if they know that lives with be in danger so I'll leave the searching up to you."

"I know some officers as well. I can make sure that Inspector Megure of the Tokyo police is there with some of his men. It should be enough to stop them."

"I want to end this."

The group nodded in unison. Toichi looked over at Hakuba before getting up and offered him his hand. "We'll be talking to Inspector Nakamori. I'm at least going to show up to warn him before you do so that he knows it's not trick. After that I'll go on my own and round up some old friends."

Hakuba nodded, not feeling as much a part of the plan as he used to. It didn't matter much because they all had the same goal in mind so he'd share center stage.

"I'll give you twenty minutes before I leave so that you can make your appearance to him. I'll talk to him afterwards."

Toichi nodded and bowed to Yusaku before they left the house. The man was already on the phone and setting things up while his wife got comfortable before pulling out her cell. "Thank you both. I have no way of repaying you."

"Even if you did, there's nothing you could give me that I would want" Yusaku said as he covered the mouth piece. "I like to _buy_ anything that interests me."

"I don't know if you're aware of this, since I was planning to tell the both of you when I'd seen you together. Yukiko-chan didn't bring you with when I invited both of you over so I've kept it to myself, but I made both of you Kaito's godparents if anything should happen to us."

"What?" Yukiko completely dropped her conversation on the phone in favor of the revelation that Toichi had expressed to them. "When did you do that?"

Toichi raised his eyebrows. "When he was born of course. I dislike my family and Chikage's have wanted nothing to do with us since she married me so the two of you seemed like perfect surrogate parents for him if anything happened. I never expected you to draw away from our family so quickly. It seemed like Chikage and Yukiko-chan were good friends."

Yukiko shook her had since Yusaku wasn't close with the Kuroba's – more of an outside spectator. "I was having a hard enough time with Shinichi. Yusaku kept dragging him off with him on cases and trying to escape his sponsors. We traveled a lot when he was young too. I didn't…" Yukiko became really quiet and looked down at her hands. "I didn't even know that you had died. I learned it after we came back from a trip to Spain when it was broadcasted on the news."

"It was less than a year after I met with you and introduced to you Kaito that I did, so there wasn't any time to tell you before. I wanted you to be aware of it but I'm not asking you to do anything with the information. Our families are very different after all."

"Well there is one thing we have in common," Yusaku grinned. "Our son's take after our interests but raise them to a whole new level, which makes them very stubborn. If they were introduced to each other they would probably have at it like cats and dogs."

Toichi laughed. "They're not very different then we are then, except we understand one another. It could because we're older and understand more." He frowned with an ironic smile. "The future is the hands of a bunch of stubborn brats; yours and mine leading the way. It doesn't look like things will be easy for them."

"It's better that way. It gives them strong values."

Toichi nodded more somberly, leaving the Kudos to work and walking out of the house.

"I certainly felt like a third wheel," Hakuba announced to him as they were walking down the street.

"Youngling you can't expect to understand the conversations of the old. We make sense only to ourselves," he smirked.

"So you expected something to happen to you." Hakuba wanted to know if what thoughts he'd formulated during their conversation was correct. "That's why you made sure he had god parents and wouldn't be thrown in with any of your relatives that wouldn't treat him right."

"I didn't know but when you're a thief running around rooftops and skating around the police you need to be prepared for anything. I'm sure even Kaito has made some arrangements if anything were to happen to him. It makes me sad that he had to do so at such a young age but I can't patronize him for his actions when mine were less than favorable."

Toichi reached in his pocket and pulled out a card that looked like the ones Kid used in his warnings. Hakuba noticed that he'd slipped on gloves so he was most likely right in his guess. The magician also seemed to conjure a pen out of thin air before writing as they walked.

"Give this to Ginzo so that it seems you have a reason for coming to him with your warnings of danger. I'm going to act tonight so I'm hoping that we can get enough people together. Make sure the notice is printed so that the gunmen will be in attendance as well."

"I've got it. I'm sure it will be easy enough to get across the evening news."

"Alright." Toichi turned a corner, going the opposite direction of police headquarters.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to fly there. It's quicker than using a bus and I'm in no mood to be dealing with anyone who might recognize Kaito on the street, since I won't know them. I'll be there faster than you at any rate so work at your own pace."

"Very well," Hakuba waved him off, playing with the card in between his fingers and leaving his prints on it. There weren't any to cover up but Nakamori would get angry at him in any case.

_I guess I'll go to the police station then,_ Hakuba thought to himself. If Toichi was going to get there before him, the detective might as well get a start on it. Nakamori should be the first to see this new notice in any case.

_I've come to reclaim the wine colored gem from the darkness._

It was funny to read after Hakuba caught the hidden meaning. The diamond that Kaito had dropped was white, but the one he was looking for was red. Wine came in both colors and the police would think nothing of it. The darkness could also refer to the water or to the ones who spent their careers in darkness. Kaito must have gotten his riddling prowess from his father.

The detective was more than a little surprised to see Conan again. The little boy was at the police station with a female teen that Hakuba remembered seeing but never being introduced to properly. He was so focused on finding Kid that he'd let the girl's identity slide when he saw she wasn't involved in anything.

"Hello," Hakuba offered his hand to her when he entered. "It's been a while."

"Hi," the girl said cheerfully, looking like she was in the same boat as he was when it came to the other's name.

"Hakuba Saguru," he bowed slightly. "Forgive me but I don't think we've been properly introduced."

"Mouri Ran," she bowed back. "My dad's here so we came along. Do you know what's going on?"

Hakuba frowned. There wasn't any possible way that Toichi's message could have gotten out so quickly.

"I'm afraid not. I'm going to find out so you can come with me if you would like."

Ran nodded and smiled down to Conan. "Now we can see what my dad's up to."

Hakuba walked in with the two of them as Nakamori started to turn away from some other Inspector. Clearly whatever altercation they were caused Nakamori more anger than the other Inspector and his officers, judging from the clashing atmosphere.

"Nakamori-keibu, what's going on?" Hakuba asked, since the man was turned towards him.

"We've been trying to get the gem back but it's been hard. Now there have been others snooping around the area and someone called in other officers who are trying to take the case from me. It's Kid damn it and it's –" It sounded like he was about to add the word _dangerous_ to his statement but stopped. Toichi must have seen him before the argument started.

"Then it's better to have more people. By the way Inspector, I found this in my coat pocket this morning," a_nd made a copy of it to send to the news programs._

"Damn it," Nakamori swore as he read the note over. "How is this any different than the one he sent us before?!"

"I don't know" Hakuba shook his head, feigning confusion.

"This proves more that this is our case. I'm in charge!" Nakamori spun on the shorter man.

"If we're dealing with someone besides the thief tonight there's going to be trouble and we need people out there who can take care of it. I have reason to believe that something is going to happen and I need to have my men ready, not getting pushed out of the way by yours."

Nakamori was going to yell something back but Hakuba put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Inspector I have a bad feeling about tonight. Last time he went after this jewel there were shooters involved. I think it's better if you let section one take over. Chasing a murderer is more important than chasing a thief. It's not like Kid's going to disappear."

He knew that Kid _was_ going to disappear though. With what Toichi had told him, the only reason Kaito was so resolute on pilfering the rich of their precious stones was so that he could have some closure in his father's death. Once the stone was gone, there was nothing stopping the magician from leading a normal life.

It was either he got caught or killed tonight and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, or he went back to his life before the maelstrom of regret and hatred had come into play. Either way, Kid wasn't going to be showing himself again.

"Yeah," the older man shrugged the detective off. "I know. I have a bad feeling about tonight too. I don't want strangers messing this up."

"I think they can be trusted." If Yusaku was a friend of Toichi's and he trusted him, then by extent the people he relied on could be trusted as well.

"This is all a waste of time Inspector," a new voice broke in. Hakuba turned to see a man in a blue business suit sitting in one of the officer's chairs. "If the Kid and these dangerous men that have been sneaking around want the diamond, let them fight over it and we'll grab it from them when they're both exhausted."

"And what if these men that we have little to go on start shooting?" Nakamori yelled at him.

"Then we let them. If they shoot the Kid it's not like it'll bad thing and we won't be close to them."

Hakuba could see Nakamori redden as he got angrier. "The Kid is not a killer. We can't leave him out there on his own if someone tries to murder him!"

"Why not?" Kogoro asked with lidded eyes. "It's not like one less thief is something to worry about."

Hakuba couldn't say he wasn't as angry as the Inspector was. This other detective didn't seem to care whether or not someone died, as long as it wasn't someone innocent. Hakuba had yet to meet the real Mouri Kogoro and he already far preferred Kaito over him, which was saying something.

"Dad you shouldn't say things like that!" Ran spoke up from Hakuba's side. He'd forgotten they were still there.

"Whatever," her father waved them off. "It doesn't look like I'm going to be doing anything. I'm not stupid enough to get myself killed protecting a thief."

"Shut up Mouri-kun, it's our job to protect the citizens and if they're in danger then we go. You're not a cop anymore so we don't need you muddling up the scene anyways!"

Hakuba was glad when the other Inspector stood up to the famous detective.

"Nakamori-keibu, we're going to work with you on this, not against you. I need to make sure my officers are ready to act when yours aren't necessary. I hope you don't have a problem with that."

"No, it's fine Megure-keibu. I'd forgotten how I hate working with this pig head."

"Alright, we're going to head out then. We have less than three hours until night falls and we need to be ready."

…

Hakuba didn't like sitting still recently. Sitting still was not only trying on his mental abilities but it also left him feeling vulnerable like he never had before.

The detective made sure that the news had gotten hold of a copy of the notice and Nakamori was too distracted to wonder how it had happened. Because Toichi hadn't specified the place, there was no chance of any onlookers this time.

It felt melancholy being at a Kid heist without the flashing lights or cheering for once.

Hakuba had to wonder what the man was waiting for. The police were stationed all around the bridge and near the edge of the water. He'd caught a few glance of Yusaku, though how the man easily slipped in and out among the officers left him wondering if the police were already familiar with his presence.

Toichi and his pursuers hadn't entered the scene as of yet.

They stood for hours waiting. Hakuba had wished he'd asked Toichi what the details of the plan were since he couldn't tell if they were proceeding correctly or not. If all was going well there were divers under the water, who Yusaku had contacts that were going to find the diamond.

It was passed three in the morning before everything went from calm and quiet to a mess of shouting and gunfire.

Hakuba ducted down with more than one officer when shots were fired. He looked up to see that there were a large group of men with guns that had come onto the bridge and had knocked out a few officers already. There was no blood so Hakuba had to assume they were still alive.

"You have to have gotten it by now Kid. Hand it over!" the leader of the group shouted. Unlike his subordinates, he was dressed completely in black with black facial hair that hid his face. "Things will get ugly if you don't."

Toichi appeared as he was summoned, somehow arising out of thin air in between the conscious police officers and the gunmen. In his hand was the diamond and Hakuba watched at Yusaku disappeared out of the area.

"I have what you want," Kid smiled, holding the gem out under the moon as it shined a brilliant red down upon the area the facets threw the glow upon. "Now watch it vanish."


	7. Do You Really Need A Reason?

_**Chapter 7: Do You Really Need a Reason?**_

* * *

_**...**_

_****__**...**_

_How can I live among this gentle_  
_obsolescent breed of heroes, and not weep?_  
_Unicorns, almost,_  
_for they are fading into two legends_  
_in which their stupidity and chivalry_  
_are celebrated. Each, fool and hero, will be an immortal.  
- Keith Douglas_

All the gunmen switched their targets from the officers to the thief that appeared out of nowhere. Hakuba was too far back to be of any help and, though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, was honestly scared to stand up to these men who could easily hold his life in their hands with no concern.

"You're more flamboyant then you usually are Snake. Don't you care that there are cops all around you?" It was unsettling to hear Toichi talk in such playful tones when Hakuba knew how serious the man really was. Unlike Kaito, who acted like an idiot anyways, it was hard to believe that the older magician could have ever been Kid if he wasn't watching it.

"All I need is that gem and since you're giving it to me, I have no reason to fear anything else." Snake put his hand out. "You are going to give it to me. With how many cops, as you have stated that are here, that equals a lot of dead bodies."

Hakuba held back a shiver at the man's grin and the effortlessness he'd put into his words at the prospect of killing the police.

"You know there are many ways to keep this out of your hands but I think I've come to the same conclusion as someone else on the best way. Do you know that you _can_ break a diamond if you have the right tools?"

"Don't you dare." The killer's easy smile was gone now and he aimed his gun more accurately at Toichi. "I'll kill you before you have the chance."

"Did you know that you can even chip a diamond on steel if you do it hard enough?" the magician continued as if he hadn't been interrupted by Snake's threat. "You even have a good chance of breaking it should you hit the diamond and not me with a bullet. It doesn't happen all the time but I'm sure I could move faster than your gun so that it would."

Though Hakuba couldn't see it, since he was behind Toichi, he had to guess the man had a smile on his face. He was still in Kaito's body though and if anything happened – Toichi knew better, Hakuba had to remember, he cared about his son.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to wait for you to try and hit me before I break it myself."

Hakuba wished he could have been closer but couldn't push passed some of Nakamori's men who were backing up before Toichi took out a small wrench after putting the diamond against the steel frame of the bridge and hitting it.

"Stop!" Snake yelled as a piece of the diamond fell off, further revealing the red one inside. "I'll kill you!"

If the man would have successfully shot Toichi, the diamond would have gone over the edge. The magician saw the bullet coming in time and danced along the metal support like a tightrope walker.

"Is that really the best you can do? You'll lose your precious stone for another millennia if you let if fall now. The police will have it before you ever get your slimy hands on it and I'm sure they could protect it better than you could attempt to acquire it. I wouldn't be so careless."

Nakamori and the other officers looked on. Of Megure's squad, all had small pistols drawn but none could open fire without fear of retaliation. Kept at the ready, the other officers watched the standoff with Kid and Snake as if it were a new part of his magic show. It almost made Hakuba sick with how easily Kid could make others think he wasn't in danger.

Snake knew the Kid, both after and before his death, just as well as Nakamori did and smirked as Toichi continued to dive away from any bullets his men shot at him.

"Fine Kid, you want to play it the hard way?" He aimed his gun at the cops. "Tempt me, I dare you!"

"Now that isn't very nice of you. I guess you don't have any honor at all." Toichi shrugged and held the diamond loosely in one hand. "I guess I'll have to give it to you."

Hakuba frowned. The magician should have anticipated this move from the gunman because of the fact he'd agreed to have to cops there. He wasn't really going to hand over the diamond so easily…

Toichi flipped it around in his hands for a moment or two while everyone watched the sparkly red glow dance around. After a few seconds he threw it high up into the air in Snake's general direction.

That made sure that all eyes were on the gem and not the magician himself.

Toichi drew out a gun that Hakuba hardly got a glance at before he heard the noise of the shot ring out. It was a real gun.

In the speechless moment that it took for the diamond to shatter, Hakuba had his eyes elsewhere. He watched at the magician stumbled off the ledge onto the cement and bow his head upon a rested knee.

"Kid!" or – hopefully – Kaito, Hakuba thought to himself, "You need to get out of there!" They all watched as the red gem shattered as easily as the white one and Snake wouldn't be happy about it. The magician was the one in the line of fire.

Kid shook his head to clear it and stared at the gun pointing at him. "I didn't think you'd do it but you're really dead now! I'll go to the ends of the earth to make sure of it!"

No human is faster than a gun that at that range. Kid got clipped in the shoulder and leg before he was able to hide behind one of the supporting pillars of the bridge. Hakuba couldn't tell how bad the wounds were but they would slow him down.

Snake put another clip in the gun and Kid, going against all logic, left his hiding spot and ran towards the man. His injured side connected with the man and knocked him off his feet. Megure's men weren't stationary anymore. They held their guns up running, demanding that Snake's associates drop their weapons.

The men all ran in different directions but the officers were hot on their tails.

Hakuba watched as Kid knocked the gun out of Snake's hands when he landed and threw it over the side of the bridge.

"You lose Snake," a voice almost too cold to have come from either Kid emanated from Kaito. Hakuba still wasn't sure if their plan had worked or not.

"I never lose!" the man growled and got up faster than his body made it seem he could move. He had Kid pinned against the railing and held onto his coat with a mocking laugh. "I NEVER lose!"

Hakuba had no time to think. He reached over where some of the police officers still remained before liberating one of them of their firearm. Hakuba knew his aim wasn't perfect but it wasn't bad enough that he would hit Kaito so he didn't care.

He shot.

Snake yelled in pain as the bullet hit across his shoulder blade and went into his arm. In the second that his hand wasn't holding Kaito, the magician freed himself and pushed the man off of him.

The differences in their body structure were so obvious when they were fighting with one another that Hakuba wondered how Kaito could run around and no one noticed that he was the teenage Hakuba knew he was.

This large difference in physical strength was accentuated when Snake was able to grab Kid again before he'd gotten far and tried to swing him back into the metal ledge. Kid saw it coming and flipped his body upward before impact to land on the balls of his feet. It twisted Snakes arm so that he was forced to let go and Kid tired to escape him once again.

The detective was able to get to the front of the group while they tussled and noticed vaguely that he still had the gun in his hand.

Kid was close enough to him that he was able to catch his attention. The look he received from the thief was more than a little confused.

"We need to talk after this so don't go disappearing on me," Hakuba told Kaito quietly enough that the others behind him wouldn't hear. He spoke louder to Snake and leveled the gun. "Stop moving! You're under arrest!"

The man wasn't thinking clearly anymore and the detective watched as he only had eyes for Kaito. He lunged at them into the crowd and Kaito danced away so that no one would get between the man and his target.

Their little game of one sided tag led back to the ledge and they all watched as the man over compensated his speed to catch Kaito on the railing before falling over.

Kaito moved with all the speed he could muster through a haze of confusion. He latched onto Snake's hand before the man could fall and Hakuba couldn't see the grin come from the killer as he squeezed the thief's hand tight enough to hurt. Kaito didn't let out any sound to show what the man was doing.

"Considering that I don't think anyone here wants to examine a dead body, I'm going to need some help getting him up."

Megure's officers were the first to act a came to the thief's aid so that Snake wouldn't meet the same fate that Kaito almost had. Hakuba wondered why the thief hadn't let him go. It would be the perfect revenge for his father and for himself. The man deserved to die alone in the darkness.

How Kaito had even held onto him before the officers got there was amazing. Hakuba knew how much trouble he'd had pulling him up, let alone a man twice his size. There was a pained expression on the magician's face when his chest was removed from the railing and he had to figure that Kaito's hurt or fractured some ribs in his little heroic action.

With a swift move from a female officer the killer released Kid's hand and the thief darted away out over everyone's reach. Snake never stopped putting up a fight and more than one officer felt his foot or hand when he managed to free himself several times.

"What the hell was that about?!" Nakamori yelled to where Kaito was balanced on a metal post with his cape blowing behind him. "Not only do we not have the diamond but I can't even explain was that was!" He gestured with an open waving hand and Snake and the men that some of the other officers rounded up. "Explain it to me!"

"My apologies Nakamori-keibu but that's one puzzle that I will not be able to solve for you." Kid smirked though Hakuba could see that Kaito was beyond confused while playing his part. He jumped backwards, off the bridge, without any further comment.

"Kid get back here!" The Inspector yelled but when he looked down the thief was gone. There wasn't even the glint of the white glider to show that he hadn't really dropped into the water below. "Damn it!"

Hakuba walked away. A man at the back of the group had caught his attention and he squeezed passed Nakamori's men to get to him.

"Kudo-san, it's nice to see you. Everything seems to have worked out." Hakuba bowed to the older man who tapped him on the shoulder.

"I guess they did. If feels like I've lost my rival all over again. At least you've got yours back."

"Yes" Hakuba grinned, unable to hold in his happiness now that the danger had passed.

"Hakuba-san."

The detective jumped but he was happy to hear that voice again. Kaito was behind him in Kid's blue shirt still, though he'd changed the pants to a pair of black ones and lost the tie. He had a hat to hide his hair and eyes so that he wouldn't be recognized as Kid or himself. "Would you please tell me what's going on."

"Happily. You're god father hear wouldn't mind telling you some of the story either. And Kaito-kun, drop it, we all know it's you so you don't need to hide. We'll explain that one as well."

Kaito looked at Hakuba hesitantly before removing the cap and looking around. "Something – happened." He shook his head as if that would make the memories that he didn't have come back. "I _really_ need to know – god father?"

Kaito looked up at the man who seemed so familiar but he couldn't put his finger on why. "I don't have a god father."

"Yes you do, it would be me. My name is Kudo Yusaku," the writer offered his hand but Kaito backed away from him.

"Kudo?" Kaito saw the similarities now and Hakuba wished there was some way to tie the magician down. It looked like he was going to bolt at any second.

"Let's continue this at Kaito-kun's house or he won't believe us. I'm sure his mother can help." Hakuba affronted Kaito with a hard look. "And thank your god father. If it weren't for him then you never would have gotten that gem you were looking for. The least you can do for his hard work is thank him."

Kaito back away even further and Hakuba was confused at his behavior. "What's the matter with you?"

"How do you know about that? I didn't – I don't remember telling you anything." The magician stayed away from them and Hakuba watched him play with something in his pocket. He could guess what it was.

"Kaito-kun I'm sure –"

"And when did you-?" The magician behavior emanated frightened animal and Hakuba tried to think of something to say to calm him down that didn't sound like a lie. He couldn't very well tell the magician that his father had taken possession of his body and told him the story behind the gem.

"Kaito-kun, as I've said my name is Kudo Yusaku. I'm an old friend of your fathers. We're not trying to confuse or trick you. Come to your house with us and we'll explain everything. If we were going to turn you in we would have done so already."

Kaito looked like he was going to come forward but hesitated and shook his head. "I'll listen to you because I need to know what's going on but I'm not going to come with you. I'll meet you there."

There wasn't even any smoke to hide the magician's disappearance. He was simply there one moment and gone the next.

"He's a pretty good magician," Yusaku commented before looking at Hakuba. "Let's find my wife and get back to his house before Toichi's son has a heart attack."

…

Hakuba took the Kudo's car back to Kaito's house and they found the magician waiting for them on the couch with his mother. Chikage greeted them warmly but Kaito remained silent. He kept looking at Yusaku and Hakuba as if they were lions about to eat him.

"Did you tell him anything?" Yusaku asked as he sat down in a separate chair and his wife stood behind him. There was no open space except for the seat next to the magician so Hakuba took it. Kaito's reacted more than he ever had to the detective's proximity to his person by scooting away from him as far as he could.

Kaito's mom shook her head.

"Then let's start at the beginning. Hakuba-kun?"

Hakuba sighed before going into detail what had happened two weeks ago when Kaito had protected him. Yusaku took over when they merged with the more recent events and Kaito sat through it all without any questions.

He turned to his mother when they were finished. "Is all of that true?"

If Hakuba had been more prepared for it, he wouldn't have been shocked by the hurt and fear in Kaito's voice. It was as if the magician didn't want it to be true.

"Yes," his mother told him in a confused tone that matched Hakuba's.

"I see." Kaito looked down and Hakuba could see that he was keeping something to himself. Something that was bothering him so much that he wasn't even able to hide his emotions like he normally would.

"What is it Kaito-kun?" Hakuba asked, a more authoritative tone in his voice because he wanted an answer and he knew how easily the magician threw off questions.

Kaito looked up at him and the two that had he now recognized as the god parents he never knew he had. A small smile tugged on the side of his lips. "I was just wondering why dad went through all that trouble. He could have stayed."

"What are you talking about? Then you wouldn't have been able to come back!_?_" Hakuba almost shouted.

"Is that a bad thing?" He looked at the detective with a serious glare to show that he meant it. "I'm sure dad could have done a lot more than I can. And – it kind of makes me feel like I killed him this way."

Though there was a smile on his face no one missed the tears in his eyes.

"Kaito-kun, you did no such thing." Yusaku patted his wife's hand and they both smiled at him. "You're father already lived his life. You wouldn't want him to be in this world with the regret of feeling like he'd killed you. After all you are so much like one another that you can't doubt he'd feel the same way."

It took a while but Kaito nodded and kept his eyes away from everyone else in the room.

"Well if you're going to brood, I'm leaving." Hakuba got up and pushed Kaito over, getting a surprised glare from the teen. "It's not your fault and I know you would have liked to see him. You don't have to keep quiet about it."

Kaito frowned but his spark was back. Kaito was back. Whatever doubts the magician was dealing without could be cleared up by talking with his mother and the Kudo's. Hakuba didn't feel like being a third wheel again so he did leave.

It wasn't like Kaito wouldn't still be himself at school tomorrow.

…

"What do you think you're doing?" Hakuba asked Kid as the thief ran off with a new obsession of his, an antique Egyptian dog.

"It wouldn't be any fun if Kid were to vanish. Let's say I'm working off excess energy and making people think more about their security. Besides, I'm doing it for a good cause this time."

The thief was almost out of earshot as he ran down the street with the task force on his heels.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Hakuba yelled.

"This was stolen! When the police look into its disappearance they'll notice. I'll give it back after that!"

"So what? You're a thief stealing for the good of others now?"

"I have to have some reason for it." Kid grinned before falling completely out of sight and Hakuba slowed to a halt.

Mouri had been on this case and the detective watched as his daughter showed up following young Conan. Conan took off but Ran stopped short to catch her breath.

"It looks like Kid's here to stay," Hakuba started to make conversation with her.

"Yeah, I guess." Ran brushed some hair out of her face and Hakuba was reminded of that night when Kaito came back.

"That man who was trying to kill the Kid, he's on trial for both Kid's attempted murder and the attempted murder of the police officers right?"

"Yeah, my mom's actually the working with the prosecution on that case. She says she can find proof that he's killed a lot of other people."

"Why would Kid save the life of someone like that? I just don't understand him" Hakuba wondered aloud before sighing to himself. "Why would he go through all that trouble to save someone he hates?" His logical brain just couldn't get around the inconstancies that Kid possessed.

"Does he really need a reason?" The teenager asked. She quickly turned away from Hakuba's stare and bushed. "I'm mean… It's just that Shinichi said once…At least I think he said it, it felt like a dream but… Do you really need a reason to save someone's life?" The blond detective stared her and Ran met his eyes, solidifying her opinion.

"Maybe you don't." He smiled gently at her, more then he would have if she had not defended his foe. "Maybe you don't need a reason for saving someone, but surely you should have a reason for endangering yourself." He couldn't understand why he'd gone through so much in his pursuit of the little red gem either. He understood that it was revenge for his father but Kid had protected so many others in the process, where the gem wasn't even involved.

Ran thought about it for a moment. "Only something really important would justify putting yourself in danger. So he must have a reason." She turned away from him and strode of in the direction of the agency. "And if it's worth that much, is it really your place to say that he's wrong?"

Flustered at being reprimanded, Hakuba looked up at the tall buildings, waiting for a figure in white to go dashing across them.

But not tonight. He'd already come and gone.

The world would have to wait.

8


End file.
